I was intrigued to find out if bundle dyeing with avocado skin would make the same pinks that were produced in the avocado dye bath. And would the addition of rusty iron produce purples? I really needed to find out!
I laid out some defrosted avocado skin onto a length of fabric and folded it in half, then rolled it around a rusty rod and tied it up really tightly. It was steamed for about 2 hours.
The fabric is a blend of soya and organic cotton. Soya is a protein based plant fibre, so it is interesting to dye with as it should dye like other protein fibres like silk and wool. I still pretreated the fabric in soya milk and left it to cure for two weeks, due to the cotton content in the fabric.
Well, it is without doubt the strangest pattern I’ve ever dyed, but it is quite intriguing to look at. The dark areas are from the rust reacting with the avocado skin. The colours produced from bundle dyeing are completely different to making a dye bath ‘soup’ and straining it.
