With several hundred mulberry saplings made over the past few years taking up too much space it was time to put some to use now. Some were made from berries. These revert to a wilder type of mulberry and I use the strong base to graft on a good variety in early spring. I have a hundred or so of these saplings and used 30 for a dyestuff today.
The creamy yellow was too good to not take to a higher level. The indigo vat is in very good condition and I can get a dark blue on a single dip right now, effectively erasing the under dye of yellow. To get a lighter blue, take out two liters of liquid from the indigo vat and mix it with four liters of water. Mix it vigorously to introduce a lot of oxygen almost 'killing' it. Then you can over dye a pale blue on the pale yellow. Of course it doesn't dye evenly.This silk is headed for the knitting machine and the irregularities in the dye will turn out just fine in knit.
To get even a finer, lighter green put a handful of indigo leaves in the mixer , filter out the leaf matter, add some lime and a pinch of hydro sulphate. Kawamoto san over dyed her beautiful mulberry root dyed silk scarf the freshest of fresh willow green.
OMG! I want to play too! What colour does the mulberry root give? Kawamoto san's scarf looks gorgeous! xoxo Nat
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