Poke Berry Dyed Yarn
Ripe poke berries were picked during the first week of October.
This is mordanted with acid. Published reports of poke berry dyed yarn on the web use 56%
acetic acid 4 oz per 1 ½-2 gallons of water. Because I didn’t have 56% acetic acid, I did a back of the
napkin calculation and came up with the final concentration being somewhere
between 1 and 2% acetic acid.
Vinegar is 4-5 % acetic acid.
My white vinegar was 5 % acetic acid, so I used it at a 1:2 concentration,
1 part acetic acid to 2 parts water.
The first skeins I dyed were mordanted with the 1:3 dilution of acetic acid. Skeins were placed in pot in the acetic
acid solution and this was brought to a low boil, the yarn was then simmered
for a further 2 hours while the berries were prepared.
In other published reports of poke berry dye, poke berries
were used at 4:1 to 5:1 concentration for the richest colors. I had 2 lbs (900g) of very ripe poke
berries and 224 g of yarn in 3 different skeins. This is a 4:1 ratio.
Published reports suggested that the dye takes best in acid solutions and
can be removed in basic solutions.
So, it is generally suggested that the berries are extracted in an acid
solution. 1 used roughly the same
1:2 concentration, perhaps erring a little more generously toward the acid than
this. I mashed the berries with
about 3 cups of acid solution.
After mordanting for 2 hours, I added the berry acid
solution directly to the pot of mordant and yarn, forgetting to strain the
skins and seeds out. I brought the
temperature of this combination up to 150 degrees and held it there for another
hour. Then I turned off the heat
and let it sit overnight.
The next morning I removed the yarn from the dye pot. There was plenty of dye left in the
pot, so I saved it.
The dyed yarn was rinsed extensively and then given a final
rinse with a Eucalan bath to neutralize the fiber. This produced a deep red yarn.
2nd pass Poke berry dye.
Because I had extra dye left and wanted to try an alum mordant.
These skeins were first mordanted for 2 hours in 10% w/w
alum at a simmer. They were
then rinsed several times and mordanted again for an hour in 1:2 vinegar water
solution at simmer. The remaining
dye was strained this time and added to the mordant pot containing the diluted
vinegar and the temperature was brought up to 150 degrees for approximately 2
hours with occasional stirring.
These skeins were then removed from the dye pot and rinsed with water
until cleared, then soaked for 30 minutes in a Eucalan bath to neutralize the
fiber. This produced a pink yarn.
As you can see, in both methods, the Jacob yarn had a more variable uptake of dye across the fibers.
