eucalyptus bark

there is a group of 4 or 5 eucalyptus trees in one corner of Beacon Hill Park, there were small pieces of bark on the ground and I brought a handful home. The bark was chopped up with  garden shears, ground up in an old blender, simmered for 1 hour and left to soak for 5 days.

using an alum mordant the linen napkin and cotton skein were simmered for 1 hour and left to cool overnight.

this napkin, previously stained with red maple leaves was sprinkled with the used bark chips, rolled up and left in the sun for 5 days. I use the word “stain” because all the colour was removed as seen in the light napkin in the lower right.  It is worth noting that the maple leaf colour may not be permanent.

two linen napkins, mordanted with alum-myrobalan as tannin-and alum. The one on the left dyed in dock roots and the right in eucalyptus bark. Both could be used as a tannin mordant by themselves. The dock roots produce an unusual greeny/yellow.

except for the indigo, I’ve retired the dye pots for a while.