Collaboration
ART
BEAUTY & WELLNESS
CRAFT
CULTURE & HISTORY
ENTERTAINMENT
ENVIRONMENT
FOOD & DRINKS
REVERSE ENGINEERING
SCIENCES
SPORTS
TECHNOLOGY
WEARABLES
Chippewa Yellow Dye: Pounded Alder Bark for Light Yellow, Bloodroot for Dark, No Mordant Needed (Densmore, 1928)
The simplest Chippewa (Ojibwe) dyes, from Frances Densmore's record: alder inner bark pounded to shreds and steeped gives light yellow, bloodroot root gives dark yellow. The yarn goes into the hot dye and boils up; neither needs anything to set the colour.
Beginner
An hour or two
Instructions
1
1
Read Densmore
Read Densmore
"The simplest Chippewa dye is in shades of yellow ... often one substance is sufficient."
2
2
Pick the shade
Pick the shade
Light yellow: alder inner bark (inner and outer will do), green or dried. Dark yellow: bloodroot root, green or dried.
Materials for this step:
Alder Bark (Dried)1 piece
Bloodroot Rhizome (Dried)1 pieceTools needed:
Hammerstone3
3
Pound and steep
Pound and steep
Pound the bark until it is in shreds, or pound the root, and steep it in hot water (amounts ours: about a double handful to a few quarts).
Materials for this step:
Water1 pieceTools needed:
Hammerstone
Grinding Stone
Large Dye Pot
Fire Pit4
4
Dye the yarn
Dye the yarn
Put the yarn in while the dye is hot and let it boil up. Nothing is needed to set the colour. Lift it out, rinse and dry it (rinse and dry ours).
Materials for this step:
Undyed Wool Yarn1 pieceTools needed:
Large Dye PotFire Pit5
5
Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting
Yellow dye troubleshooting.
Flow
Loading...
6
6
History and honest limits
History and honest limits
From Frances Densmore, *Uses of Plants by the Chippewa Indians*, **44th Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology** (1928), pp. 369, 373 (checked on the archive.org scan usesofplantsbych00dens). She saw the alder dye made on yarn. She also records sumac, goldthread and bloodroot-with-wild-plum yellows. The amounts, timing and rinsing are ours.
Materials
4- 1 piecePlaceholder
- 1 piecePlaceholder
- 1 piecePlaceholder
- 1 piecePlaceholder
This blueprint makes
Related Blueprints
These blueprints share knowledge with this one — techniques, materials, or principles that connect them in the learning graph.
CC0 Public Domain
This blueprint is released under CC0. You are free to copy, modify, distribute, and use this work for any purpose, without asking permission.
Support the Maker by purchasing products through their Blueprint where they earn a Maker Commission set by Vendors, or create a new iteration of this Blueprint and include it as a connection in your own Blueprint to share revenue.