cabbage in Bittersweet

Ok so purple cabbage dye job. Very cool! No really it is.

For one thing. Boiling the cabbage for 45 minutes. SUCKS. Oh My God. It smells ugly. Like.. Boiled cabbage. Its hot heavy and reminds me of swamp ass haha! Anyway.
I boiled the cabbage for 45 minutes with several teaspoons of salt. I ooohed and ahhhed at the color then grabbed the closest wool. I wound hank of merino silk blend. I ” prepped ” the wool for a minute. I mixed hot water, cream of tar tar and alum to the water. Then added my hank of water, Just one end actually. I pushed as much of the wool into the water as i could. Then I added teh hot purple dye. Of course bits of cabbage are stuck to the wool. Ill pick them out later.

I allowed it to sit over night and so far its a glorious color. Im going to reheat the cabbage water today, Then pour it over the other half and fingers crossed for a gradient effect.

A friend told me when she did purple cabbage it turned a weird misty grey color. Which would be lovely too! It could be a pretty base. But she didnt do salt alum and cream of tartar.
Salt and alum are both a color setting “thing” They help the dye adhear to the fibers. Help the fibers open up to soak up the dye. Its a mordant, which affixes the dye. The cream of tartar from what i read, brightens up and clarifies SOME colors.
Hey im researching this as i go!

So purple cabbage. Pretty cool.
My yellow tones from the marigold are drying. Its been two days. Hello cool temps and high humidity.
The wild fires need the rain anyway.