Madder plus Alum Acetate

Some colors can be so difficult to capture with a camera. At least, with my skills with a camera. This is madder dyed on skeins that have been mordanted with alum acetate* instead of the usual alum sulfate that I have been using. Alum acetate is usually used for mordanting cellulose or plant fibers such as cottons and linens. The colors came out rusty reddish brown and look far richer than what is represented here. The purplish skeins are the ones modified with iron. It is the last iron modifier I plan to use. I may throw a skein or two in iron on a whim while dyeing the rest of the colors. Today I used madder again but went back to an alum sulfate mordant with the addition of Cream of Tartar. It pushes the red in madder towards orange. One thing I haven't taken a picture of yet is the Tagua nut buttons I dyed in the dark DOS* of the same dyebath above. They turned out lovely. I had actually tried to dye them earlier but mordanted them in alum sulfate, my reasoning being that nuts are a protein source. The dye didn't take so I re-mordanted them in the alum acetate with the above skeins. That worked much better. Fun too!
I will have a break in a couple of days as we will be on a road trip. I will try to post on the road with inspiration for weaving, dyeing, and spinning. To the weavers out there, please hang in there, I will be getting to the weaving part soon! I have yards and yards of handwoven cloth from my Great Yarn Stash Challenge that will be converted into various things quite soon. I will be carding up the fleece I dyed the other day and spinning it at the Highland Games in a couple of weeks or so. I have a fun discovery in spinning to share too so please stay tuned! -Renee
*see glossary