More eco-dyeing

As I prepare for Thanksgiving tomorrow, I thought I would share the last of my eco-dyeing for this year.  These will NOT stay whole cloths, but will be used as part of other quiltlets I hope to make next year.

You may remember this fabric bundle from last week.

I allowed this to steam longer 

and I allowed it to cool longer in the pot.  I was already getting excited.

What a mess.  Some of the leaves stayed intact, but the sunflowers disintegrated when unwrapped.

After it dried, I was blown away by the pink from the yellow sunflowers.  This piece is not color adjusted.

When I pulled in closer, I color compensated and the pink and copper pennies turned a beautiful, albeit false, color.

This is closer to the correct colors and I was so happy to have wrapped the bundle tightly enough that it left marks in the fabric.

I was getting tired of eco-dyeing only one bundle at a time, so I grabbed my favorite rusty piece and laid blackberry leaves onto a piece of cotton bed sheet.

I tried to mix it up a bit by using copper with blackberry leaves and other leaves from my garden on a piece of curtain sheer.

Since I realized I had a few days before I had to share these on my blog,

I decided to leave them in the pot longer.

Here are some of the details I like the most.  This

and this are from the sheer, which surprised me, since I wasn't expecting so much rust to have migrated to the sheer.

The characteristic black comes from the rust mixed with iron.  This

this,

and this are from the bed sheet.

My friend Johanna asked if I iron the fabric before I wash it in order to set the colors.  I always treat fabric, whether eco-dyed or rusted, exactly the same.  I wear gloves and after unwrapping, I wash the fabric in baking soda water, sometimes more than once, in order to make sure it is safe to handle.  To me, safety is the name of the game.

Thank you for joining me today

as I revealed my final completed and dried eco-dyed bed sheet and curtain sheer.  This is Day 21 of Art Every Day Month (AEDM).