The natural dye experiment conducted at class was to find out whether out brought in home made, naturally dyed watered solution would be able to stain the natural fibre provided to us through a dyeing process.
For my natural dye, I used peeled orange skins and left them to boil for over an hour and cool overnight. After a few hours, I checked in on the pot to see a faint yellowish color. This would be the color I would stain the natural dye to. In class, we were told to wash our natural fibre to begin the staining process. As this material is real wool, it secretes body oils, therefore creating a layer of oil over our colored water which would hinder the process of dyeing. After washing the wool, we were provided with a range of mixed chemicals in the form of fine grained powder, that we would add into our solution to help accelerate and modify the process of dyeing.
As my solution was really light colored, my natural fibre could not pick up the satin very well despite the addition of the chemical modifiers. I tried using muslin cloth from our bought kits as well, but it was not strong enough to actually stain. Perhaps using more orange peels to get a darker color when put to boil, or using a different darker edible food would actually be able to stain the materials provided. Overall, it was a fun process, and sustainable method to staining fabric.
