May Dyeing

Golden hop, rosemary and sage this month

I love the purple stems of the hop

Sage on the left, then golden hop, then rosemary.  Overall the sage colours are strongest.  I think this weeks stars are these four:  From the top:  sage on copper, sage with iron modifier rosemary on copper and rosemary with iron.

The colours are a little deeper and stronger than they show in the photo.

The weakest colours were from the golden hop but Kate, who is doing solar dyeing with some of the plants is already getting a good strong yellow from it.  Perhaps it is one of those dyes that yields a better colour from cold soaking?

I had a quick look at the skeins which have been put aside to check for lightfastness the other day and some have started to fade already.  It will be interesting to see how they compare at the end of the year.