Not only is red cabbage yummy to eat but its a good friend to the budding dyer! I love to cook it with apples, onions, brown sugar and red wine vinegar (as shown below) and it goes exceptionally well with pork, but I think its going to work well with my natural dyeing experiments.
I say "think" because I haven't as yet completed the experiment. I only used half a cabbage for cooking, so threw the other half in a big pot of water and simmered it for about half an hour.
After only about 10 mins I got a lovely bluey-purple colour ...
which then got darker ....
and later turned into a red-purple (maybe I should've stopped after 10-15 minutes)
After it cooled in the pan, I strained it into an old milk carton and its all ready and waiting to meet my other friends - the fabric and threads.
Today is a mordenting day for the materials - trying to get it done before it rains again, as I'm working outside so as not to contaminate the kitchen.
Will post the results shortly. Wish me luck!
