more from the haphazard dyepot

Experimenting with the theory that an aluminium pot can act as a mordant. Same sad old (formerly) white cotton top as before.

 Once again, lacked time and patience to pre-soak or really follow the instructions in the lovely book, like soaking overnight in aluminium-pot-water.

 Dumped loads of coffee grounds in with cotton top and water and brought to the boil for half an hour or so. Partway through, thought hey, maybe I have a source of iron-as-mordant too.

 Who knows? Worth a shot. Normally used in the garden on things like my yellowish macadamia tree.

So yeah, cooked it up for a while, let it sit for a bit. It looked to be going a fair bit darker than the first time. Then I went to rinse it out. Which is where I found...

 Our source of mordant-rich water! Yes, the rusty old rainwater tap in the laundry. The orange-tinted water that comes through the rusty pipe is exactly what was called for! I could actually see colour processes happening as I rinsed: the rust-coloured water became quite a dark grey.

 I will spare you any further gruesome underarm shots - suffice to say that the aluminium content is still working away and the top is no more wearable than before.

 But what a cool experiment!

Um, here's our pretty cat Elodie, and some weeds. Happy Thursday.

- Jane x