Oogst – Rhubarb Root

Description

This is one of the natural dye products described in the book Eco-paint by Anja Schrik.

Recipe

Basic recipe for 100 grams of wool, silk or cotton to dye ochre

Necessities:

- 50 g rhubarb root
– 15 grams of alum
– 2 grams of tartaric acid
– 1 cup vinegar
– laundry bag or cheesecloth
– 2 old (cast iron) pans
– electric stove or stove
– apron, gloves
– (glass) jars, buckets or trays
– 2 cups of household soda (if you are going to dye cotton)

Step 1: Wash (only if you are going to dye cotton, skip step 1 if you are going to dye wool or silk)
Fill a bucket with plenty of water and 2 cups of household soda and leave your cotton in it for 24 hours. Rinse well the next day.

Step 2: pickling
Dissolve the alum and tartaric acid in a jar of hot water. Put 3-5 liters of water in the (pickling) pan and add the mixture of alum and tartaric acid. Soak the wool, silk or cotton in a bucket of water and add them to the pickling pan when they are completely soaked. Bring the temperature to 80 degrees (not warmer). Let it simmer for over an hour. Then let the fibers cool down slowly in the pickling bath. You can leave this overnight or get started right away.

Step 3: Dyeing
Put the rhubarb root in a wash bag and place it in the paint pan with 3-5 litres of water.
Bring the dye bath to about 90 degrees and simmer for an hour.
Lower the temperature to 30 degrees and add the wool, silk or cotton. (Tip to speed up this process: put your pan in the sink with cold water)
You can leave the rhubarb root in the wash bag in the dye bath during dyeing. Just make sure the fibres can 'swim' well. Bring the temperature back up to 90 degrees and simmer for an hour.
Let the fibers cool slowly in the dye bath.
MC Tips:
1) For more intense results, soak the rhubarb root in water for 24-48 hours before starting step 3. Then pour the decoction through a wash bag into the paint pan and top up with enough water.
2) For a deeper shade of yellow, use 100 grams of rhubarb root instead of 50 grams.
3) Leave the fibers in the dye bath for an additional night after they have cooled down.

Step 4: fixate:
Rinse the fibers and let it sit in a bucket of water with 1 cup of vinegar for an hour. Then rinse well and hang to dry.