Logwood and rust dyeing part 1

Todays recipe;

Ingredients

Pre-washed cotton muslin, about 3 metres x2
Selections of rusty nails
Logwood in muslin bags
Old pot and jam pan. 

1. Buy Logwood from Just Ingredients (website or the Cult of Amazon).
SO much cheaper than buying from “arty” stores or natural dyeing websites.
 

 2. Roughly sew and make muslin bags, add required amount of logwood chips, seal with string.

3. Add nails to the pan along with the logwood.
(Add a few more nails than shown here and use different amounts of nails in each pan to give a different hue).

4. Add one or two full kettles of boiling water.
Take out Logwood sachet to have a look at the stunning purple colour.
Drool. 

 

6. In the Jam Pan we have lots of rusty nails and a generous dollop of logwood.

Note the purple colour and the  grey.
Logwood + Alum (another mordant) = Pink
Logwood + Iron = Purple-Grey
Logwood + More Iron = Grey-Purple

Bring to the boil for a few minutes, switch off and leave at least 12 hours.
NOTE: this will produce a “space -dyed” effect, not an even colour on the fabric - to do that you need a huge pan, more water and constant stirring. 

7. In the large pan we have fewer nails but the same process as above.
Add the fabrics slowly to avoid air pockets.
Enjoy that colour! 

8. Might be a little too pink

9. Add more nails until desired colour is reached.

Part two following soon.