Like heavenly bamboo (Nandina domestica) the tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima) is invasive in Austin, so I wanted to see if it could be used as dye. A brief google search pulled up an instagram video of someone dying and using an iron after treatment to achieve a cool grey color. Any results at all was enough to convince me to try it. I picked a bunch of leaves some branches that had fallen during some recent storms. This amounted to 160g.
I cut the leaves up a bit, covered them in water and set it to simmer for an hour. I expected to see some noticeable pigment in the water, but it still looked clear. I added an 11g skein of wool yarn that had been mordanted (the same batch that I used with the alcohol extract of nandina) and brought it back up to a simmer for about 30 minutes then shut off the heat and let it sit overnight. I started to see some color develop the next morning so I simmered for another hour before turning off the heat and letting it sit for another day.
After rinsing the wool was a nice bright yellow color. I split the skein in half and put one half into an iron bath for 15 mins. I was even more pleased with this color as it came out a nice olive green. Overall I think this experiment was very successful, and I plan to try it again!
Tree of Heaven
Photos
