Friday, June 22, 2007

Roots vs. Extract


Dana had a good question in the last post. She asked me how I would evaluate the color of the Madder roots vs. the extract. I am looking at the results of both dyebaths side by side. The Madder root has an oranger cast. The Madder extract is closer to a true red. At least, that is the results I got using the water I have and other variables. Both root and extract give rich color. I put both pictures up but couldn't get them side by side. You might be able to tell but the computer does change the colors. The picture on top is the Madder root dyed skeins, the picture to the left, the extract. One thing I forgot to mention in the last post is that the skeins are put right into the mixture of madder roots. It is a bit messy to clean up. The final dyebath was a straightforward 100% WOG deybath. I put the roots into a cheesecloth bag for that batch though and I felt I didn't get as saturated a color. I would have to test it without the cheesecloth bag to be sure.
I have Weld flowers in the dyebath now. I will have pictures of the final results tomorrow. As soon as the Weld is finished, I am going to pop my experiments into the recycled Madder root dyebaths. Can't wait! -Renee

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