Dyeing with wine

acchiarini wrote

on Nov 16, 2009 9:48 AM

Hi,

My name is Ana. I'm from Brazil and I've been teaching myself how to spin using the internet. I have a spinning wheel made right here where I live, Florianopolis at the south of my country (it's not so warm in here). Later I'll probably ask for advice with my spinning, but that's not the case today.

My husband has a small production of wine (what they call "colonial wine" here*). It's very raw and not too sophisticated, but his production is all organic. He made some wine last year and he's not very pleased with the results and wants to get rid of it. I was thinking if I can use it to dye some wool and cotton I have. Has anyone tryed something similar? Which kind of mordant would you advise me to use?

I would appreciate a lot any help! And my apologies for my English...

Ana

JillyB wrote

on Nov 16, 2009 7:26 PM

Hello Ana - wine gives great stains on table linen and T-shirts so it should work well on cotton - probably the tanins in the grapes.  I would make small skeins and try first with no mordant - just soak in the wine and see what happens.  Then try alum and cream of tartar. I like to use 10% of the fibre weight of alum and 5% fibre wieght of cream of tartar ( up to 25% is sometime quoted, but it can make the wool very sticky and unpleasant).Both of these amounts are for wool, haven't tried on cotton, but if you get good colour then try modifying using iron (rusty nails etc) or copper (coins or washers).  If nothing works, it can always be overdyed!

Grapes have both tannin and tartaric acid and these are both recommended as mordants for vegetable fibres, so give it a try.

We made some really atrocious wine some years ago and were told that a few drops of glycerine per bottle would fix it, but don;t tell your husband this until you have tried the wine for a dyepot..... :)

cheers, Jilly

acchiarini wrote

on Nov 18, 2009 4:32 AM

Hi! Thanks for the reply!

I did try to dye a T-shirt using just wine. The color disappeared after I washed it. But you're right, I did find a mordant recipe using alum and tannin. I will try your second advise (alum and cream tartaric). And I'll let you know what happens. I had no idea of how much alum to use. Great tip!

My husband thinks the color might also change (or fade) because of light. He has a couple of cotton bags he uses to separate the wine from the smashed grapes. After a couple of months,  the bags go from a deep purple to brown (brownish). But I'm OK with that.

Beijos (kisses)