I was intrigued to learn that painting a package with avocado skin would turn the pink colors produced in the avocado dye bath into the same color. And will the addition of rusty iron cause a purple color? I really needed to learn!
I put a few melted avocado skins on a long piece and folded it in half, then rolled it around a rusty stick and tied it really tight. It was steamed for about 2 hours.
The fabric is a mixture of soy and organic cotton. Soy is a protein-based plant fiber, so it is interesting to dye it like other protein fibers such as silk and wool. I still pre-treated the fabric with soy milk and left it for two weeks for treatment due to the cotton content in the fabric.
Undoubtedly the strangest example I’ve painted, but it’s very interesting to look at. Dark areas are caused by rust that reacts to avocado skin. The colors obtained from the package dye are completely different from making and filtering the ‘soup’ from the dye bath.
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