On my last trip to Yale I scavenged for some old rusty railway parts along the tracks and came home with a nice collection. Using one part vinegar, two parts water and a few rusty old railway spikes from the Fraser Canyon, I made an iron mordant a few weeks ago and has let it ferment till now. And it worked!
This week I harvested the suckers from the cherry trees in my yard and used the bark and leaves to make a new dye. I boiled both bark and leaves separately and came out with similar shades from both.
Playing with swatches I got a really good look and learn from comparing how the different mordants react to the cherry dye. A teaspoon of the homemade iron solution into the pink dye and suddenly we've got blues and purples! Amazing.
The far left is cherry bark with alum. Then, with some copper pennies I was able to pull the second shade. The blueish grey in the middle was made with my homemade iron mordant and the last with a store-bought iron from the supply shop, Maiwa. I'm especially pleased with the shade I got with my homemade iron mordant.
