Monday, June 28, 2010

In the pink........

Well who would have thought it.  I read about it on  Gerdiary an of course I had to try it for myself.  What happens when you dye with avocado skins?  A beautiful lime green......no...the most notstaligic looking dusky pinks.

I peeled two avocado pears and waited until they were boiling,and added my bits and pieces, like I did with the blackcurrants. nothing seemed to happen for a while and then the materials slowly began to take the colour.  As with the blackcurrants and the snow the silk pieces gave the strongest results. Isn't nature amazing?

Some time in the winter  I read about crushing rose petals between fabric with a hammer and tucked it away as something to try. It has a proper name, "flower pounding". As our first flush of roses are just beginning to drop and I had all these lovely pink pieces to work with.I thought I would try it. I am sorry I can't remember the origianl reference but this seems to be quite a comprehensive "how to".  This is my result using rose petals, geraniums and petunias , I haven't done all the things you are supposed to do to the cloth to fix the dye so it will inevitably fade but it was fun to do.



11 comments:

Margaret said...

Love pink. Don't like avocadoes....but my DD does! I have just put in a special request for her to save skins for me...Ah, kids are such a blessing! ;-)

Stitchety Grub said...

Yum I love avocados - I had a lace friend who used to work at an Avocado farm about 4 miles away from my house she used to bring them to the lace group - nowadays I have to buy them !!! Love the results - the flower pounding too - something else I need to have a go at ... LOL - but I fly to Japan the day after tomorrow for the International Lace Congress in Kobe for 16 days - so no time at the mo... Take care
Hugz Britt in Western Australia

muralimanohar said...

Avocado skin? WOW.

spindelmaker said...

Wow! I can´t believe how beautiful the avocado-dye is!! I never even thought about it being an option. I eat a lot of avocados, and will certainly be trying this very soon. Thank you so much for the tip!! :-)

gerfiles said...

Lovely... - isn´t it amazing how everyone gets a slightly different result...?!

Amanda said...

I am so anxious to try this avocado peel dying! Fabulous colors you achieved! Thank you for the inspiration! I am a new follower!
Best Wishes and Blessings,
Amanda

DeeDee said...

I love the results you achieved... I wasn't able to get such good colors.. how long did you leave them in .. ? I love the dusy rose colors... thanks for the fun experiment .. I found you on Pinterest..

Anonymous said...

Beautiful ...what wonders will be done with your creative thinking...I dye a lot witth teas and get some vintage looking pinks, coffee too ! But these are not new ideals, you are probably familure with these dyes...
lynda

RoseAddict said...

And to think - I've been wasting avocado skins all these years, just throwing them in the trash! ;-) I've got to try this. What sort of mordant did you use?

I've been known to go out after fresh grass clippings to smudge on paper, which makes more of an avocado green stain than a grass green, but I've never tried dyeing fabric that way. Now I want to try that, too.

Avocados - beautiful inside ... and out.

Consu said...

I saw a link to your experiment on Pinterest and had to come check it out! I am glad to have found you and your wonderful blog! I love to eat avocados and now I will love to dye with their boiled skins :)
Come and visit my art adventures if you are so inclined: consutolosa.com

JansArtyJunk said...

I'm loving those dusky pinks...will put avocados on my shopping list this week ;)...Thank you for the lovely inspiration!