These dyes are from the historic region that gave us what we call Persian/Oriental rugs. Some of those colours are unbelievably lush. This regional industry, like a lot of other ancient crafts is in trouble because of all the industrial knock-offs.
Since these dyes were of unknown manufacture we made the assumption they would be similar in to the labeled and familiar dyes available to the amateur.
It was fun discovering what colours were there, as some of the powders bore no resemblance at all to the wet dye.
There were two blues. The two bottom ones were the same dye lot, the middle one being placed in the "spent" dye solution. Water and sky!
The top one was know to be Berber blue. We got the concentration/timing wrong so it came out a pale color, but again a delectable SKY.
The green was too weak a solution. It looks almost minty. The Ochre colour too, probably would have been more intense with longer timing. (We were so impatient.)
And the middle piece was the pale green over dyed with the spent ochre, and interesting ( to me ) tan/yellow.
And the RED we under did as well.
I was loath to use all her dye powder considering the true cost and that there was no way to replace this purchase. But we have some nice rose and pale pinks. I'll find a use for these at some point.
Then there was the purple. Considering the amount that washed out we over estimated how much powder we needed for this one. We based it on the blue and red, but that turned out to be wrong!
The mottled piece was cloth that still had the sizing. So it acted as a resist. Cool.
And last but not least are my mop up cloths. They will be used.
We had a great time, albeit HOT, but we worked in my garage and the breezes were up. I think we enjoyed ourselves so much we didn't notice the heat.
Until today.......I'm exhausted.
Good day to stay inside, in the basement, where its cool.
What's next?
She has some Indigo!
We decided to give that a day of it's own as it has special needs.
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