A White Blouse
I started with a white cotton blouse from a thrift shop that cost 59 cents. I used a glass jar to heat with alum mordant for several days in the sun. Then did the same with a tannic acid mordant derived from pomegranate skins.
After the pomegranate mordant dyed the blouse this golden yellow, I inserted and tied in pennies. Then I scrunched the blouse and returned it to the jar for a week, this time in a solution with cochineal bugs.
Hmmm... still needed something, so on Easter day, I picked some red hibiscus flowers, tomato vine and thistle leaves, and I pounded them into the fabric with a hammer.
Wow! I got this blue from red hibiscus flowers. So we'll see what happens after exposed to light for several months.
Today on June 8, the color still looks good. I'm especially happy that the blue from the hibiscus is still very blue, and the tomato leaf prints stayed quite green although the thistle leaf prints turned to a mustard color.
