I went for a walk recently with the goal to collect some birch bark from fallen trees and prepare dye bath and dye some yarn. The weather was dry and sunny for about five days in a row and I hoped to find a proper piece of birch wood with enough amount of bark on it. Animals like hares, squirrels or some birds which eat bark off trees are not found in this area. Our small forest is surrounded by typical Russian "dachas" (typical summer houses and allotments) where people grow their vegetables for personal use, so the area of woods is not more than 3 sq.km. I was walking along the canal when I saw some logs of birch. They were in a fairly good condition. I didn't use a knife or anything, just my hands. It was very easy to tear off the bark, the log was wet and bark came off the trunk effortlessly. I collected just about 200 grams I think. May be about it.
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As you can see I collected some bark from trees which had been lying on the ground for quite a while, may be 1 year or 2. I was thinking that this could make the bark fade its natural dye, but decided to give a try anyway.
When I came home I ordered one aluminium pot online and decided to wait for it. When I received my order the process started.
First of all I soaked birch bark in water and let it stay for a night. I used 10 liter aluminium pot. From now on it is my dye pot.
Sorry, I forgot to take photos of the whole process, but I will try to describe it in details as it was.
Next morning, I put the alum pot with soaked birch bark on a stove and made it simmer. When it simmered for 1 hour and switched off the stove and left the pot on a yet hot stove to continue extracting its dye. Rebecca Desnos in her book " Botanical colour at your fingertips" recommends to make everything slowly, because "working slowly gives the best results and produces colours that will last the longest" - she says. By the way, I think it is a good book for a beginning dyer. I bought this book and never regretted it, because now I know the basics and can develop slowly trying and experimenting.
The first day I let the bark to extract its colour. I left the pot with it for the next night.
Only next day I took yarn, which I also soaked in water for the night beforehand. I took similar yarn as in my log book entry 1.
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They were:
Schachenmayr Regia for Hand-Dye 4 fädig / 4 Ply - Fingering (14 wpi). It is superfine yarn, wool rich blend. 75% virgin wool and 25% polyamide. 100 gr = 420 m , 3,5 oz = 459 yds.
and
Rustic wool from Russian producer Pehorka. It is also 100% virgin wool. 100 g = 250 m, 3,5 oz = 273 yards.
The process of dyeing.
In the morning I discarded the birch bark from the pot and left some pieces which were not going to stuck in the yarn. I soaked the yarn in this coloured water and heated all on the stove. I forgot about it actually so it started boiling (don't do it!). When it simmer it gives its colour to the yarn better. I took the pot and placed it on the terrace on the sun and left till next morning.
Next morning and took the yarn off the pot and washed it with gentle wool washer. Rinsed and left to dry.
Here are the results.
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| Undyed and dyed with birch bark sock wool. |
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| Birch bark on the left, avocado on the right. |
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| Birch bark, avocado, undyed. |
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| Undyed on the lest, birch bark dyed rustic wool on the right. |
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| Birch bark rustic wool on the left, and the same but dyed with avocado on the right. |
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Undyed, birch bark, avocado.
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Some more photos of colour and wool comparison.
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| Sock wool in all three forms: undyed, birch bark, avocado. Natural light with some sun. 3.45 p.m. |
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| Sock wool avocado, rustic wool avocado, sock wool birch, rustic wool birch. |
