Dyeing with sisal -Tiñendo con sisal

Over the last couple of weeks I've been dyeing sisal for a friend, Beatriz Constán, who uses it in her weavings.

I've never used it for anything before let alone dyed it. It's a natural fibre which comes from Agave Sisalana.

Despite it being a natural fibre someone along the way had added some kind of chemicals. When I rinsed it prior to dyeing a huge amount of bubbles rose up in the bucket accompanied by a toxic smell. The photo below was taken the next morning and some of the bubbles were still there.

Aún con burbujas de un producto químico, la mañana después de aclararlo antes de teñir.

The first batch was dyed with camomile flowers.

I then went on to dye with atichoke/fig, eucalyptus and apple barks. These were then overdyed with indigo. I also put a small bit into the end of a cochineal bath. There wasn't much dye left and when overdyed in the indigo there wasn't much of a difference.

Camomila y después teñido con añil.

Alcachofa y higuera después teñido con añil.

A la izquierda, corteza de manzana y con añil. A la derecha, corteza de eucalipto con añil.

A la izquierda, cochinilla -muy suave- y con añil. A la derecha sisal teñido con añil.

¡Toda la gama!

Having overdyed nearly everything - which tends to be what happens when you have an indigo vat going, everything ends up blue - I set about dyeing the base colours again. If you look closely at the photo you can see my assistant, Millie the rabbit!

Manzana, eucalipto, camomila x 2 y un conejo.

This weekend I finished the final batch in cochineal The photo shows me getting the most out of one dye bath: yesterday I dyed the cotton threads, last night the first batch of sisal and today the last batch which is dyeing paler.

Aprovechando un baño de cochinilla- ayer hilos de algodón, por la noche sisal y hoy el último sisal teñido más pálido.

An interesting fibre to dye, it took the dye beautifully and required very little rinsing afterwards. I soaked it for days and heated it for hours and it stayed the same.

Beatriz's work can be seen on her website
www.beatrizconstan.com
and I'll put some photos up here when she's used some of this sisal.