Once upon a springtime, a few years back, when the soil in my garden was warm and workable, I planted a lovely bed of mesclun lettuces. And as the soil in my garden was very good, the mesclun sprouted and grew and produced many tasty greens. In fact, I had a surplus of delicious greens, and some of these had the misfortune of being picked by myself, only to languish at the bottom of my refrigerator in the produce drawer, where they became very mushy and sad.
The very sad lettuces still had some green to them however, and as I had taken a "Garden Scarves" workshop and had learned exciting things about produce gone bad and all the good that's still in it, I did not mourn their mushiness. I had a plan! Dye silk with plant materials using a "green dye" method! This was the perfect opportunity.
And lo, I was delighted with the results! The lettuces successfully transferred their life essence to the silk fibers, resulting in a lovely, delicate pale green silk scarf. Without harsh chemical mordants. Without harming me or my environment. And colorfast, mind you.
The mushy lettuces, being spent from their labors, were tendered to my compost bin. Some time later the compost was added to my garden. And some time after that, when the soil was warm and workable, I planted a lovely bed of mesclun lettuces.
That's the story of how I got started "green-dyeing" silks. Since then I look at every plant I come across with an eye toward the dye it might give me. It's great fun gathering materials together to dye another batch of silks, and it's always exciting to see the results a month or more later. (This is a slow cloth method!) The results are unique, unpredictable, and fabulous! I plan to showcase my green-dyed silks on this blog. I hope that you, dear reader, will be fascinated, entertained, and amazed, just as I am, with the results.
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