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Sunday, June 26, 2011

Ew, Yuck!

A couple of months ago, I received in the mail an article from Betsy, a friend of mine, about compost dyeing. Said she was reminded of me when she saw it. (I'm hoping it was the dyeing part and not the compost that reminded her of me.) Although my first thought was that this was a thoroughly disgusting idea, I couldn't help wondering what kind of fabric it would produce. So one day I decided that all I would risk was a yard of fabric and why not give it a try.

The article said to wrap grass clippings and some other vegetation in the fabric, roll it up into a packet, and then bury it in the compost.  I of course had to take a picture so you could share the experience with me:
And here it is decently buried in the most recent additions:
I am a bit skeptical about how much of the color the fabric absorbs will permanently stay because the article said nothing about treating the fabric with anything or adding a mordant and usually vegetable dyes need something more to make them stick. But the fabric packets are supposed to cook for a month or two and then air cure for several days so we shall see.  It has now been decomposing for over a week.

And if you are still with me after that stomach-turning picture, thanks for the company.

3 comments:

quilthexle said...

Oh wow - that's an quite interesting approach to fabric designing ;-)) It will be fun to see how that turns out ... maybe than I'll try to convince DH that we need a compost NOW ;-))

Anya said...

I'm afraid that's not a technique that I'll be in a rush to try...but I'll be interested in seeing your results!

Peggi Yac said...

Can't wait to see what you dig up!