Sunday, October 5, 2008

Food Color Dye on Bambu -- Fail

Failed experiment -- or nearly so, but I expect it to fail all the way shortly. ;-j

I tried dyeing bambu with food coloring in the microwave. I mordanted half with vinegar and half with baking soda (I got a suggestion from one site to do that for the pH). I used black food colorint (really dark, dark green), but when it came time to rinse it out, it all ran away except for a pink. But that's pretty pale and I figure that'll go away too. So no joy.

I think I'll have to spin the bambu white (boring) and then dye the yarn with something designed for cellulose. I know it'll work with indigo with the proper mordant. But that's an experiment for another day.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

food colour will never hold on celulose, neither on wool or cotton.

you may try Henna for nice orange and brown shades, light resistant and longlasting, onionpeel (the brown stuff) gives ramie a nice sunyellow, and cochenille can be used for nice pink, magenta and violet shades......hope this helps a bit.

I use them for ramie

Regards

Kristian from denmark