Ingredients:
2 oz powdered oak galls
1 oz alum
8 oz madder (George Weil best Turkish)
fermented bran water
1/2 oz alum
1 oz brazilwood
3/4 yd wool
3/4 yd linen
Process
Add madder to 4 gals filtered fermeneted bran water; heat to 130, soak 6 hours.
Boil oak galls in water for two hours.
Boil wetted linen & wool swatches (1.5 yds total) for 2 hours.
Rinse. Hang to dry while preparing alum.
Boil 2 oz alum in 5 gallons of water. Turn off heat. Stir in wetted wool & swatches in alum water for 20 minutes.
Rinse. Hang to dry while preparing madder bath.
Bring madder & bran water to 150 degrees. Add wetted fabric to madder bath. Stir for 40 minutes. (I did not strain out the madder).
Rinse well.
Boil brazilwood with 1/2 oz alum. Do not strain out. Add the fabric. stir for 5 minutes.
Notes:
This was another try at getting a good red from the recipe used in Red as a Rose I. The wool was still coral-orange, due in large part to the general acidity of the bath, but did have a pinker hue due to the bran water. The dyebath looked dark brown, but dyed a lovely dark red. Compare "main dye with "5 swatch: same fabric, same process, and "5" is darker and has a more bluish cast. I added more linen swatches this time. I wanted a good color on the wool so the main wool I did not run through the tannin bath. I also did not strain the dyestuff out of the bath, as the majority of the recipes for dyeing with madder omit this step.
Discoveries: #1: Urine stinks. End of story. So does boiling fermented bran water. #2: Linen dyes bluer than wool, when dyeing with madder. #3. Never, ever, ever dispose of a madder dyebath in a white porcelain bathtub.
Samples:
Main linen: galls, alum, madder, brazilwood
Main wool: alum, madder, brazilwood
1. Linen with galls, madder, brazil
2. linen with alum, madder, brazil
3. linen with galls, alum, madder, no brazil
4. wool with galls, alum, madder, brazil
5. wool with galls, alum, brazil
6. wool with alum, madder
7. wool with alum, madder, brazil
8. wool with galls, alum, madder
9. wool with alum, madder, brazil
