Open Inquiry 4: Dyeing

Time to dye!

We had Calendula flowers from both my old farm job and Jules’ garden which we combined into a large pot, filled with water and let simmer for about 4 hours.

Calendula has a special place in my heart. Deep in the (mild) Victoria winter, I begin to miss the sun and feel pretty gloomy. Going on a walk, even when there is ice or snow dusted on the ground, I will see Calendula blooming in bright orange and yellow hues. The name Calendula loosely translates to “little calendar” because it can bloom throughout the year. We weighed out the calendula and let it simmer while we washed the wool (about 3 hours), and the water took on a nice orange tinge.

Next we added our wool and Alum (potassium aluminum sulfate) which helps bind the dye colour to the material. We let that simmer for another 2 hours but each time we checked, the colour hadn’t really took to the wool. In the photo above the wool looks like a coffee brown but once it was taken out and the excess liquid ran off, the wool remained pretty white. I let it simmer for an additional 2 hours, but took it off after that, worried that the wool would mat.

We were left with an off-white wool and felt a little disappointed. Although it’s all a learning experience, I felt awful about ‘wasting’ all of the calendula. At some point, we had messed up the ratios, affecting the colour. We also researched adding other ingredients to calendula dye to adjust or enhance the hues is often done. Here is the final colour once the wool was dried. Not the most amazing colour but I have fondness for it because of the experience of the process.