Butterfly Bush

The photo showing the six steps of dyeing, the original plant stuff, simering in a pot,the "juice", straining, the first sample, the end result.

This shrub tends to grow along side of the road, although many people grow them in their yards to attract butterflies. I gathered up a bunch of limbs, later separating the flowers from the leaves and simmered them in separate pots.

I guess I was dreaming thinking I would maybe get lavender from those pretty flowers. As soon as those flowers started simmering a very deep mustard yellow juice appeared. Both the flowers (middle photo) and the leaves (bottom photo) leaves photos


I was kind of surprised at how similar the colors were for both the flowers and the leaves/stems with the real differences being with the prealum group on the right and the iron mordant wools on the left.