Dyeing with Food Scraps- Avocado
Skins, stones, iron
I was looking to find a way to reduce my impact on our planet. I stumbled upon things you can do with your food scraps- to get the most out of them. I couldn’t believe my eyes when i saw that avocado stones and skins made a peachy pink dye. Yes, I read that right. AND when you add iron to the pot you can create a beautiful subtle purple grey! I was so intrigued. Not only did I love avocados but I was also managing a restaurant that made a lot of guacamole. Into the the food scrap bucket I went and pulled out as much as I could.
After I washed my new found dye stuff, I let it dry in the sun for a few days (now that I’m more experienced, I know not to dry out the stones!)
During this time I treated my fabric with soya milk. Very simple to make! You let your fabrics sit in a mixture of the milk and water for 12 hours. Ring out, let it dry, and repeat a few times. This help the dye bond to the fibers. I have used Alum before, and this fabric treatment actually created a golden color on silk. So if you want pinks, I recommend using soya milk as your mordant.
When I was satisfied with my mordant process I rinsed my fabric and put it to the side while I stated my dye vat.
For this, I covered my dye stuff completely with water and slowly brought it to a simmer. You do not want to do this quickly as it will cook your dye stuff and turn brown.
I let that go on for a few hours and then I cooled and strained the dye pot and added my mordanted fibers to the vat! Heating slowly and turning the fabric every once in a while, you can see the color grab onto it! The longer you let this sit at a low heat, the deeper the color. Patience is key with natural dyeing.
As you can see the color is beautiful and delicate. Working with these food scraps helped me find my new passion in plant magic and botanical dyes. I read somewhere recently that avocados were the gateway into the natural dye world. It is 100% true!
Avocado dye with a touch of iron added to the vat.
My first avocado dye.
This is where is all began. A cotton blouse I stole from my mom, and a handkerchief.