Solar Dyeing with Sunflowers

One of the better local native plants for solar dyeing turned out to be the sunflower.

Here, you can see some of my containers filled with fabric and plants. They sat for the entire summer until cold weather threatened. My sister, who was visiting from Connecticut told me it looked like a 5th grade Science Fair project!

The raw silk (above) was dyed using leaves from sunflower plants. The fabric was presoaked in Alum / Cream of Tartar solution and a piece of copper tube was tossed into the jar.

The raw silk (below) was dyed using flower buds from sunflowers. The fabric was presoaked in Alum / Cream of Tartar solution and a piece of copper tube was added to the jar.

(Above) Cotton fabric presoaked in Alum and Cream of Tartar solution, with copper tubing added to the jar. The leaves of the sunflower plant were used for it.
This cotton broadcloth was also dyed with sunflower buds and the same Alum / Cream of Tartar solution with a copper tube in the jar. Interesting how different the fabrics can look from one jar to another with the same ingredients. This darker one did grow mold, though so that may account for the variation, at least in part.