Monday 14 September 2015

The Surprising Colour of Avocado Dye

Exploring the Internet one day I stumbled on how to dye with avocado. Since the colour was so improbable, I thought I'd give it a go. It was around the end of last Summer ( February, I think), when the roses were blooming beautifully.

First I sorted through some fabrics and doylies and sorted them into baskets - one for coffee, one for tea and one for avocado.

I'd been saving every avocado seed and skin as we ate them - I put them in the freezer in a ziplock bag. I'm not sure if that changed the result, but it worked, anyway!

So I boiled them up for about 30 minutes in a large saucepan, until the water turned a pinky brown. I strained out the avocado mess and put it the pink water back into the pot. Then I threw in a few pieces and pushed them under the water.
Here's a peek into the pot...

lace in avocado dye

Instantly they turned a gorgeous shade of antique pink, which dried slightly lighter. I hung them to dry naturally on an airer in the bath - this meant they looked aged - speckly, with darker patches where the water ran. So I did some more, and dried them in the clothes drier. These were more uniform in colour.


Vintage laces
Drip-drying avocado dyed laces

vintage lace

It's not a strong dye, so the original colour of the fabric still shows to influence the new shade. It mellows and ages strong colours, depending on the fabrics. The cottons took well, but the synthetics were not affected as much.

The colour lightens as it dries.

I love the natural antique look it gives - very subtle. I even tried dying some white fake daisies -you cans ee it on the edges of the petals.

embroidery flowers

The pinker doylies were white to start with, and the slightly browner shade were cream or beige before dyeing

pink lace
The perfect match - a rose from my garden.

They look great with this antique hat box lid and my David Austen rose.

avocado dyed doyley

I just happened to have a vase full of another favourite rose - a gorgeous pale apricot, so I had a play with my camera...

vintage hatbox lid with rose and lace

flowers

lace and linens

vintage lace linen and doylies

avocado dyed lace and rose to match

Here's a little wall hanging I made using some of the laces.

lace collage
Vintage lace wall hanging

 The colour looks different indoors... I tried to adjust it a bit below.

lace collage
Vintage lace wall hanging

So, start eating those avocadoes... guacamole (mashed avocado, lemon juice and crushed garlic) is great with corn chips!

Thanks for visiting.
Jesse


6 comments:

  1. My goodness Jesse - two posts in one week!! What beautiful shades of antique pink you received with your dyeing events. You certainly have a beautiful selection of linens now to keep you going with your collages now.
    They look so romantic sitting with the roses!

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    1. Yes, Suzy, I've been working on this one for a while, and the Simply Neutral party gave me a kick in the pants I needed to finish it! Ha ha!

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  2. How beautiful they turned out! Unfortunately I'm very allergic to avocados, otherwise I'd love to give it a try myself as well. Your collage is gorgeous Jesse, A sweet baby photo with the yummy laces and that beautiful butterfly.

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    1. Thanks, Wen. You could always ask your friends to save their avocado skin and seeds for you in their freezer. That's what I do until I have enough. It doesn't smell, either!

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  3. Oh my goodness I never knew!
    What a beautiful hue the avocado gives these laces and fabrics~
    Just gorgeous results~
    I like your little girl wall hanging with it's snippets of wedding style lace.
    Vintage loveliness!
    Karen O

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    1. Hello Karen, yes, it was a lovely surprise for me, too. I would have expected a muted green rather than this gorgeous mellow aged pink.

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