Back in Voss, the theme this time is dyeing. First up is plant dyeing. Or maybe a better word actually is natural dyes? The first picture shows cochineal-lice, here dried and crushed. They´re from Latin-America and are a well-known way to make a beautiful bluish-red color.
Below is a bath with birch-leaves. The wool is prepared with alum, and the yarn needs to be in the water for an hour at 90 degrees. Birch makes a warm yellow color in just a few minutes. But if it stays in the water for an hour, the dye is fixated and will not fade in light.
Adding a little iron-vitrol and the yellow yarn turns green. Below it´s hanging to dry.
A complete set of different dyes. The wool is dyed with different plant parts: mushrooms, leaves, flowers, roots, stems.
What beautiful colors. Who on earth, I wonder, first thought of using bugs to dye fabric. What a yucky, brilliant idea!