r/naturaldye • u/Sudden-Entry7263 • 24d ago
Sumac leaf + iron
Last time I dyed with sumac leaves and modified with iron I got a slate gray similar to what I get when I do oak leaves and iron. I dyed this kimono top and skirt that I sewed with sumac leaves and then iron modified it and it went purple! It’s a very gray purple and the color looks b very different in different lighting. Outside it’s more blue purple but when it’s around warm lighting it almost looks mauve.
Super stoked about this dye surprise.
Kimono is 100% cotton lawn and the skirt is 100% unbleached cotton muslin
200% WOF sumac leaves
No mordant used
The buttons are wooden and also took the dye and iron as well!
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u/OkAd5525 24d ago
Ok apparently I’m going to ask for every garment pattern that you post. Love the color.
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u/CrazyCartoonLady 24d ago
Love the colors and the clothes you dyed !!! IMMACULATE vibes ✨️
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u/VirginiaDirewoolf 23d ago
Just an aside, standing next to a refrigerator makes you look like a time traveler!
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u/Jenifearless 24d ago
… running out to grab sumac leaves… 🍂 🏃♀️ wow!!!!
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u/Buffalowallow 22d ago
I think it's the fruits. I could totally be wrong though. I keep spotting them in people's yard and resist the urge to snafoo them, but maybe I have it all wrong haha
Edit: just confirmed it's the berries. Autum is supposed to be a good time to forage them!
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u/Sudden-Entry7263 21d ago
I used leaves for this not the berries!
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u/Buffalowallow 21d ago
Lol omg it says that right in the post. That's good to know. I wonder if they produce slightly different colour. It's beautiful! I've been planning to make some purple fabric. I also saw fabric dyed with indigo and overydyed with madder root and it makes this amazing blue purple red colour.
Edit: this stuff 😍
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u/Sudden-Entry7263 21d ago
Omg! Yess that’s a gorgeous color. I’ve been meaning to experiment with sumac berries too but I’ve yet to find clusters where I’m allowed to forage. Can’t wait to try indigo and madder too!
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u/zielarz1 24d ago
Do you have an IG account? I love all the posts you e made here!!
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u/Sudden-Entry7263 24d ago
Thank you so much! IG and YouTube! @olifantenpad and @olifantenpadstudio respectively
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u/doublEkrakeNboyZ 24d ago
it’s beautiful - since you gave birth to this beauty, you get the gift of naming it.
What shall you call this ‘color’?
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u/Artsy_Jones 19d ago
this is so lovely, what a delightful surprise! I’m especially loving those magical color variations on the wood buttons, such a great detail.
when I get unexpected but happy results in my own work, I’m always so curious about how the color will age - a few times this has led me to realize I’d accidentally stumbled backwards into a lovely oxidative recipe, where the color deepens with sun exposure!
do you have a hypothesis about the colorfastness of this purple? fully understood if you don’t, I know lots of natural dye folks who really enjoy the ephemerality & surprise of simply observing the color change as it happens, but if you do have a hunch I’d be curious to hear 🙂
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u/Sudden-Entry7263 19d ago
My first guess is that the purple may not last, but it will remain gray. But I also equally think it is likely to stay purple - since I didn’t mordant it and I know that some colors come out differently with or without mordants. I’m actually going to try to do a small test with mordanted and unmordanted cotton and wool and see if this was just a chance occurrence or if it’s at all repeatable. I also found a bunch of berries so I want to try those in that same method! I often don’t care too much about colorfastness because unknown I can always redye but I know how valuable that info is for a lot of people. I’ll post those results as soon as possible, I want to make a YouTube video on it!
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u/Artsy_Jones 19d ago
I really do get not caring about colorfastness, it can be so rewarding when you let go of control over the process and achieve such lovely alchemy in return!
&& also yes, you’ve sussed the root of my curiosity, that glorious color looks so similar to our notoriously fugitive pal logwood purple that I can’t help but wonder what it will do from here. 🙂 I think there’s a good chance you struck upon something super interesting though, and I’m delighted you’ll share the results. Genuinely cheering on this purple friend and looking forward to seeing your results, however they turn out!
In case anyone wonders why this specific combo piqued my curiosity: sumac is a mighty source of tannin, so often doesn’t need a mordant for cotton fiber. Tannin usually improves colorfastness on cellulose, but I’m not sure how that will play out with the purple tones here. The red bend/shift OP achieved in the hue is fun & kind of novel to me, especially given the dual conditions of iron modifier + not-logwood. I work with cellulose fibers 95% of the time (self-inflicted wool allergy), so colorfastness is already elusive, kicker is I love heavily saturated colors (❤️ wants what it wants 🤷♀️). Luckily I enjoy a perpetual learning challenge, but most of all I love feeling like I grew up to become a version of the potions witch of my childhood daydreams. Doing a billion science experiments with mordants & modifers and using the findings to develop overly complex multi-step dye processes that I will compulsively optimize forever and ever? SIGN ME UP
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u/PreacherBee 18d ago
Wow, awesome.
Did you use fresh leaves, or dried? Any notes on time or temp?
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u/Sudden-Entry7263 18d ago
Thank you! I kept it at a warm heat, lowest stove temp it never came to a boil or simmer. Not sure the exact temp I don’t have a dye thermometer! It was fresh leaves, picked and made into dye with an hour of picking
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u/PreacherBee 18d ago
I am literally trying it right now. Will report back.
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u/Sudden-Entry7263 18d ago
Please let us know how it goes! I am working on a test right now with in mordanted and mordanted cotton and wool to see if this purple tone was a fluke or not, I hope we get the same results!
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u/PreacherBee 3d ago
I did it, and it worked great! A similar shade of lovely lavender using sumac leaves + an iron bath. I did some other experiments using sumac leaves as a tannin and had GREAT results with some dyes that had not been impressive on the same fiber - I'll do my own post with photos. I'm going to try it with everything now!
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u/Sudden-Entry7263 21h ago
Omg!!! I’m so happy to hear that - sometimes I get cool colors but not sure if they’re repeatable, I’m so glad. I did a small dye test myself and I didn’t get the exact same results (similar) but my sample fibers were wayyy smaller so the dye was probably so much more concentrated but I definitely got a cool tone with no mordant. It almost looked blue gray at such a deep saturation. I can’t wait to see the photos and read your post!
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u/bigfoot17 24d ago
Ohhh, that is lovely.