Hello and happy Friday!
I have been experimenting with natural dyes (plant-derived dyes) for a while and a few days ago my friend brought some dry black beans home for dinner- immediately I knew I wanted to try to dye some cotton fabric with the bean water, I mean what a good way to get some dye and tasty beans at the same time! I referenced Fiber Artsy’s article (https://www.fiberartsy.com/natural-dyeing-with-black-beans/) for instructions but I also just improvised.
First I put my fabric in my dyeing pot- about half a yard- and poured a whole kettle of boiling water over the fabric. I then scooped up a cup of water in a paper cup and mixed in 1 oz of alumn until it was fully dissolved. Next, I poured that cup of water into the rest of the water and stirred to combine. Long story short, just mix 7.2 cups (1.7L) of boiling water and 1oz of alumn together and pour it over your fabric. I mordanted my fabric for one day.
Meanwhile, you can also be soaking your beans. Soak one package or 16oz (1 LB) of Good & Gather black beans in a bowl with enough water to cover all the beans and then some. Good & Gather are Target brand black beans and something about them brought out such vivid colors in the dye. I let the beans soak for a day and a half and then strained the beans and kept the remaining bean water in a jar in the fridge while the fabric was mordanting.
Once my fabric was mordanted I just wrung out the mordant water and thoroughly rinsed the fabric with fresh water. I then poured the black bean water over the fabric and some magic started happening- the dye reacted with the alumn and turned a deep dark purple, so pretty!
I let the fabric sit in the dye for two days and then rinsed the fabric with some dish soap and water until the water ran clear.
I hope this gives you some insight as to what I did to get such pretty and saturated colors from black beans! One thing I would note is that the dye is very saturated, and it did not cover my half a yard of fabric, so my fabric was blotchily dyed. I don’t mind that but if you do I would use less fabric. I was also able to make some beautiful grey/blue fabric by adding baking soda to the dye.
I can’t wait to get quilting with this beautiful fabric! I am going to make a mini quilt using only natural dyed fabrics and so far I have a light pink from avocado dye and a light brown from acorn dye. Next up I want to dye some deep oranges with onion skins.
Happy natural dyeing!
-Olivia
Saturated fabric after two days in the dye bath.
Top left: Wet black bean dye with baking soda. Middle right: Wet black bean dye. Bottom left: Dry black bean dye.
Left: Black bean dye dry. Right: Black bean dye and baking soda dry, dyed for one day.
Synopsis:
Fabric: 1/2 Yard 100% cotton bedsheet
Mordant: 1.7L boiling water + 1oz alumn
Mordant for 1 Day
Dye: 1 package (16oz/1 LB) Good & Gather Black Beans
Dye for 2 days