[Satine De La Courcel]

Hi all


While Dyeing some silk I threw in some pearls into the dye bath to see waht woudl happen.. here are teh results..

Used Tumeric and Pomegranate rhind... I am dissapointed but will try more natural dyes again, Some really turned out badly, and turned other colors I am not sure what went on... Just a fun experiment..

I will attempt to get some decent pics of the really bad ones.

The silk a lucious vibrant golden sunshine yellow.. This was only for 6 days.. stopped the experiment there the dye bath molded.

Cheers
Ash

[Pearl_dreams]

Cool! I might experiment a little with some temporarily strung pearls.

Were you aiming for yellow? If so, have you tried boiled onion skins? Settlers used this to dye wool, I've read.

[Pearl_dreams]

Or beet juice? That might actually create a bluish purple effect.

[Valeria101]

White onion skins should give a brownish yellow. It was / is used here too. Red onion gives violet... Neither color is very strong. Frankly, I don't know what my grandmother used to stabilize the colors, but even then she died wool, not pearls!

Saffron?

[knotty panda]

Neat thread! Can you bleach the rejects and start all over? Hmmmm, just found a link with dye recipes and tips! This is going to be fun! http://jewelrymaking.allinfoabout.co...dyepearls.html

[Satine De La Courcel]

It was a hey lets see what will happen if I do this moment... I am developing a natural dye class form the 16th century silk road regions I am researching Plants and other thigns that were found in these regions for material dyes..

Have done onion skins and depending on the Mordant used and mix of stuff you can get a butter yellow color to a very ncie brown gold.

Using beets Beets same thing Pinkis to a blue-purple.

I attached the silk, the darker yellow is a 3mm silk gauze, and yes it is that dark on its own. The brighter yellow is a 8mm silk weight. both absolutely georgous yellows ...

I used poor quality perls and yes Tumereic by itself is not very colorfast so I can re-dye these(in theory)

Cheers
Ash

[Pearl_dreams]

Saffron makes a lovely yellow (and tasty) rice. I wonder what it would do for pearls?

[jerin]

Hi Ash and other members,

I just heard today that the price for 1 kg Saffron is SEK 15.700:-, in USD that would be approx. 2,434.00, so that would need better pearls if You would like to invest such an amount of money for getting yellow pearls

[Pearl_dreams]

Originally Posted by jerin

Hi Ash and other members,

I just heard today that the price for 1 kg Saffron is SEK 15.700:-, in USD that would be approx. 2,434.00, so that would need better pearls if You would like to invest such an amount of money for getting yellow pearls

It is true that, pound per pound, saffron is the most expensive spice in the world.

But it is very affordable because one uses such a tiny bit to make so much color! One tiny pinch of saffron (I actually buy it from the Dollar Store here) colors several cups of rice a deep yellow.

Growing up, our family was on a tight budget. My parents immigrated from Italy with only 2 suitcases a few years before I was born. Yet I grew up eating saffron rice. So-- trust me, buy a tiny container of it for $1-3 and boil it up in 2 cups of water to release the color, and then dilute as needed.

[Valeria101]

Hm... 1 Kg of saffron! That might not be enough to soak a year worth of white Pearl Paradise pearls, but should do for a month or so. That allot of orange!


Speaking of natural pigments...

Does anyone know whether the original purple dye stains pearls? It somehow sounds appealing to apply a historic, mollusk originating pigment to another historic mollusk originating, precious object.

Is natural purple dye made anywhere anymore?

[Satine De La Courcel]

Originally Posted by Pearl_dreams

Saffron makes a lovely yellow (and tasty) rice. I wonder what it would do for pearls?

Not Much at all (See Original post in this thread) at ya!

Cheers
Satine

[Satine De La Courcel]

Tumeric is Cheap not the same spice as saffron different plant.."poor mans Saffron"

As for purple dyes?? Hmm the molluscs that were used in ancient times I thougth were either extinct or on the endangered species list. Hmm Let me see what I can find that could be a modern substitute.. Indigo and something comes to mind let me find that something....


Dyeing our own purple pearls would be great! Now if I can get these natural dyes to be more colorfast..

Cheers
Ash

[Pearl_dreams]

I have an herbal black currant tea that makes a lovely, jewel-tone purplish red infusion. Brewed extra strong, it might work as a dye.

[Caitlin]

Here around Tucson, which is located in the Arizona/Sonora Desert, there is a bug, a scale, that grows on prickly pear cactus called cochineal. It has a bright red dye that releases when you try to get the scale off the cactus. I do not know how to use it, but I will follow up, if you are interested.

Here is a a very interesting site that sells cochineal and other natural dyes. LINK

[Pearl_dreams]

That is interesting, because the fruit (and its pulp/juice) of the prickly pear is certainly bright red as well.