Natural dyeing course and Eco printing course

I'm taking some courses from the Wild Dyery in the UK.  It's always fun to study with someone and see how they do things.  Here are my first lesson results from each.   These samples were dyed in my natural indigo dye vat.  Making the indigo vat is an adventure in itself!

Here are my first eco printing samples on silk noil for the course.  They are each about 12 inches square:

The top right is Bachelor's Button which is a first for me.  The flower did give off some nice blues.  Thanks for having a look!

Avocado Pit Scarves

I have been experimenting with dyeing silk scarves with avocado pits.  I didn't have much luck last year but I had a lot more luck this year.  One trick is to add a little bit of baking soda to the dye pot to darken the colour.  I've added the scarf to the dye solution in this photo and it's in the pot on the stove:

  I ended up making two scarves.  I also read about using an after rinse in ferrous sulphate solution to get dark blue/purple colours.  So I took one dyed scarf and tied it off with some elastics.  I tied some coins into the ends.  Then I did the after rinse with a very small amount of ferrous sulphate.  The effect was so quick and strong I had to pull it out very quickly.  But here are the results of before and after.  I'm still pleased with the result and will try a weaker solution next time:

Thanks for having a look!