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Avocado dye

Dye Experiment Materials: 

  • 6 whole avocado skins (were frozen due to being stored in freezer)

  • 7 avocado pits (were frozen due to being stored in freezer)

  • cotton voile and broadcloth, silk habotai, and linen

  • pot (not used for cooking)

avocado silk hobotai.jpg
avocado linen.jpg
avocoado cotton voile.jpg
avocado cotton broadcloth.jpg

Clockwise starting from top left: silk habotai, linen, cotton broadcloth, cotton voile

Fabric Preparation​

  1. Cut fabric into numerous 6x6" squares. 

  2. Pour 3qt of water into a pot bring it to a boil.

  3. Mix 1.5 tsp of of alum with 3/4 cup of hot water.

  4. Add alum mixture to boiling pot.

  5. Add fabric to pot and let it simmer for one hour.

  6. Let fabric in pot cool down.

  7. Once the pot is cooled down, take fabric out and rinse it under water.

Dye bath

  1. (Defrost avocado matter if necessary.) Put avocado matter in pot and cover with water. 

  2. Bring pot to boil and simmer it for one hour. 

  3. After simmering, turn heat off and let avocado matter soak in pot for one hour and 20 minutes.

  4. Add fabric to pot and let it sit overnight. (I let mine sit for 15 hours.)

  5. Bring pot to a boil and simmer the fabric for one hour. (Continue to add water if dye bath is boiling off. I ended up adding six additional cups of water).

  6. Let the pot cool down and rinse fabric with warm water. 

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*Due to how late I started the dye bath, I left the fabric to sit overnight but preferably I would boil the fabric in the dye bath before letting it sit overnight.  

© 2020 by Alyssa Domenico

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