Foraging and Dyeing with Mulberry

Our most recent Foraging and Dyeing class focused on mulberry! Mulberry (Morus sp.) is classified as an invasive in the U.S. where it can be found in old fields, roadsides, forest edges and other disturbed areas. In early summer in the Northeast, you can see the stained roads and walkways from the deep purple berries falling from the trees. I started experimenting with mulberry last year and only used a handful of berries on a silk satin scarf. I’m not sure if I used a mordant for this silk but it turned a beautiful dusty rose color.

For the workshop this year, I wanted to make sure to have at least a pound of mulberries, if not more! We had three participants for this one and we wanted the color to be as deep as possible. I was expecting the scarves to turn a deep purple but they ended up being a greyish blue!

Here was my process from pre-treatment to dye:

Pre-treatment

1) Gently “wet out” and wash silk. Put silk in a stainless steel pot with a small amount of textile detergent and bring the water up to 140 degrees and leave for at that temperature for at least 30 minutes. Rinse fabric thoroughly.

2) Mordant the silk with alum at 15% WOF (weight of fabric). Weigh out alum and dissolve completely. Fill a stainless steel pot with enough water that allows the fabric to move around freely and add dissolved alum to the pot. Add silk and bring temperature up to 140 degrees and keep it at that temperature for an hour. Stir gently every 5 to 10 minutes. Squeeze out excess water from silk back into the pot and rinse thoroughly to make sure to get all of the unattached alum off of the fabric. This can also lead to uneven dyeing and streaks.

Dyeing

1) Put foraged mulberries into stainless steel pot and use a potato masher or the back of a wooden spoon to mash the berries. Add enough water to cover berries and bring up to a boil. Turn down the burner and get the dye bath to a simmer. Let this simmer anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour depending on how deep you want the color to be. Strain berries from bath, rinse pot and return the concentrate back into your vessel. Add enough water for the silks to move freely and make sure your temperature is brought down to about 100-110 degrees. The best color is acquired by slowly bring the dye bath up to the appropriate temperature.

2) Add your silks to the dye bath and slowly increase the temperature while stirring the pot. This will ensure an even, consistent dye as well as heat setting the fabric for a better color/lightfastness. Bring it up to 180 degrees and leave it for an hour or overnight depending on the shade desired. Rinse and let dry out of the sun.