Scotch Broom - do two varieties dye differently?
Also known as common broom or Cytisus scoparius, this is one of the more devastating invasive species here on the south coast of British Columbia. Once it appears on the landscape, it quickly spreads through their bountiful seedpods, crowding out other native shrubs and groundcover. A prolific flowering species, the flowers are decent for dyeing yellow.
Note: If you are using the flowers for dyeing, please take care not to spread the pods and dispose of any plant matter carefully. I made sure to check for seedpods while picking off the flowers.
TL:DR: the two varieties dyed slightly differently. All other factors being equal, the Andreanus variety (with red petals), came out more yellow-green, while the Allgold variety stayed more of the traditional yellow. Conclusion - stick with the all yellow variety and a premordant of alum if you’re after yellow. For a more concentrated yellow, I’d go for maybe 1000% fresh Weight of Fiber next time, these results are based on 450% WOF (aka: go for 10x more fresh flowers than your weight of fiber).
Harvesting Site
Areas under power lines in BC are often cleared every 7-10 years to keep the area accessible for maintenance. As this inhibits the forest’s natural ability to regenerate, the system is kept in an early seral stage and vulnerable to invasive plant species like Scotch broom and Himalayan blackberries (visible just off to the left).
Scotch broom, Allgold variety
The majority of the site was covered with the traditional all yellow Scotch broom. Though other varieties of this shrub are available with flowers in colours such as pale yellow, bright orange, red or shades of pink.
Scotch Broom, Andreanus variety
I noticed that several shrubs in the area had these deep red brownish-red wing petals. It turns out this is one of common ornamental varieties of Scotch broom.
Separate but together
I wanted to see how dyeing with each variety might result in different colours. So much like the rest of us during this pandemic, I collected and stored them separately in their own bubbles... or something like that. I feel like there’s a Covid joke in here but I can’t quite get there.
90 grams each
I made sure to only use the same amount each time. These are two identical 2-liter glass jars with 90 grams of flowers in each.
Goal: dye to two 10 gram skeins in each - one premordanted with alum and with iron, for a total of four skeins (two per jar).
Into the pot
The two jars were then filled with tap water and the flowers were chopped with scissors. I like to chop them when they’re floating as the water pushing them to the surface makes the chopping easier. They placed into a large pot which was then filled with water and heated. The two jars were then simmered for an hour and left to cool (though not as cool as I should).
At the ready
Two additional 2-liter jars were placed on the counter with two 1-gallon mesh paint bags placed around the rims. I was introduced to using these bags in a dyeing class with Alissa Allen (Mycopigments) and they’ve become a big part of my dyeing process ever since. Thanks Alissa!
Strain it
Using the mesh bag as a strainer, I poured the dye stuff into each of the empty jars. The left over plant material can now safely go into the composter.
Colour difference
Here are the resulting dye vats. The Andreanus variety on the left is a darker shade though the red in the petals did not translate into visible reds in the dye vat.
In you go my lovelies
Into each jar I added the 2 x 10 grams of wool. That’s a ratio of 9:2 fresh flowers to wool (450% WOF).
Into the pot
Both jars were placed together into a larger pot and heated to a simmer for an hour and allowed to cool.
Results (above):
Left: Red-variety - yellow-green (alum), a dark brown (iron). Right: Yellow variety -yellow (alum), abrown (iron).
Results left to right (above):
Skein 1: Red variety ( iron), dark brown.
Skein 2: Red variety (alum), yellow-green.
Skein 3: Yellow variety (iron), medium brown.
Skein 4: Yellow variety (alum), medium yellow.
