As I think about this cochineal dye project, I'm once again reminded how far back these threads of my dreams go. The first time I heard of the dye stuff was over 10 years ago as a line in a poem that inspired one of the Halloween perfume oils from BPAL. It wasn't necessarily notes I usually went after, but couldn't resist the name and story.
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Autumn — overlooked my Knitting
Dyes — said He — have I
Could disparage a Flamingo
Show Me them — said I
Cochineal — I chose — for deeming
It resemble Thee
And the little Border — Dusker
For resembling Me
For my knitter posse! A warm scent, as delicate as lace and as soft as cashmere, and as cozy as wool, punctuated with red currant for the blazing red of cochineal and surrounded a border of soft grey ambergris and a swirl of autumn leaves.
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I never loved the perfume on me, but it still makes me smile. I should give it another try and my body chemistry is undoubtedly different this many years later and the perfume may have shifted as well.
So this is where I learned about cochineal, or where I heard of it for the first time. I didn't dig any further than that. I get asked a lot about using natural dyes or dyeing roving and my answer is always "They require more: more time, more finesse, more patience, more auxiliary chemicals... Just more. And the results are generally inconsistent." Thus, as a rule, I don't like natural dyes. Adding copper and iron and things that can really damage skin just didn't sit well with me. I know they are naturally occurring compounds, but I also don't like the idea of adding those metals back into my water supply - especially now that I'm on a well. My dyes with modern pigments require heat and acid to set, which I am very comfortable with: concentrated lemon juice or vinegar.
I also find natural dyes are misleading in their results. The colors I got in the dyepots rinsed away so quickly in the finished part of the process. I saved all my dye baths and intend to add more yarn to soak up as much residual dye pigment as possible. But I expect it to fade quickly even with the mordant. The differences in the 3 dye baths is also much more subtle now that they've been rinsed and dried. I still can tell which is which, and it will still be a lovely gradient warp when I am done. I plan to use the second dye bath yarn for the weft.
Hopefully today the sun will cooperate and I'll get some good pictures to update this blog with!
Left to right: well water, distilled water, distilled water plus iron.
Top: 2 skeins distilled water dye cate
Left: 2 skeins well water dye cat
Right: 2 skeins distilled water plus iron dye vat
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