The homework from my Eucalyptographia course required us to make dye samples in varies fibres in a eucalyptus dye and then dip the samples in different home brew mordant potions.

I took a rather relaxed approach to this homework due to unexpected work schedules. I had planned to spend a couple of days preparing the samples, dye, and do the mordant dips; but the day I prepared the samples and scoured them I got a call to attend a work assignment that lasted longer than expected, as a result I left the dyed samples in their mordant potions for days. And here are the results:

All the samples are prepared the same way: background square is silk, on top are strips of cotton (longer) and linen (short); the yarn is 100% wool. All the samples were scoured at the same time.

Top row: the samples were soaked in homemade mordant brew, from left to right: iron, alum, copper, they were then dyed in the eucalyptus dye pot.

Bottom row: the samples were first dyed in the eucalyptus dye pot then soaked in homemade mordant brew, again from left to right: iron, alum, copper.

The top row shows there is not much difference in the samples pre-mordanted with alum or copper, iron made an obvious difference.

What I wasn’t expecting is the greenish tint in the cotton and linen of the post-mordant sample of the alum soak (bottom middle).

It is interesting to see how dark the sample became in the post mordant iron soak, the silk is pretty much black, the linen is almost black and the cotton is dark charcoal grey, however the wool yarn is a darkish mocha brown. I am a little in awe of the post iron soak (bottom left), the colour is so intense and didn’t see possible from the eucalyptus dye 🖤

I also like the post copper soak sample, it is hard to tell in the photo but the yarn is a vibrant rich copper brown, I’m thinking of dyeing some yarn using this method ☺️