[Sca-cooks] saffron dyeing

[A F Murphy]

I don't know anything about leather dying, but I know weld was used in
period to dye fabric. You can get some pretty bright yellows with it,
too! Just saw some yesterday. (Lainie, I thought of you, too... some
nice oranges with weld and madder.)

I have absolutely no idea what one would have to do with it for
leather... sorry... but it might be a place to begin.

Anne

Steve wrote:

>--
>In trying to make a new (not reserved :-) ) yellow protege belt I decided
>to try to saffron dye the leather.  This is the initial part of the note
>that I took in the process:
>
>I dissolved .25g of saffron powder in 4oz of boiling water and immersed a
>test piece of leather for 20 minutes.  After this time I removed the piece
>to let it dry and see the color.  After approximately three hours of drying
>time I took pictures of a control piece and the test piece.  I then put the
>test piece back into the saffron solution.  After soaking for about 3 more
>hours I pulled the test piece out of the solution, after it dried I noticed
>a slight color change.  I then put the piece back into the solution
>overnight.  After a 36 hour soak I pulled the test piece out and let it dry
>naturally.
>
>I was trying for a more natural looking yellow than the screaming neon/Big
>Bird yellow that you get with the current commercial paints.  What I got
>was a muted yellow/gold color similar to a buckskin.  I  like the color but
>have a couple questions.  Would doing something slightly different make it
>a little more yellow? And, will the color leech out onto garb and if so,
>what can I do to fast the dye?
>
>AEduin
>--
>
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