Dying with Woad

According to Wikipedia, woad (Isatis tinctoria) is considered by some to be a noxious and invasive weed if left to its own re-seeding abilities.  In fact, growing woad has been eradicated and banned in certain states.  To natural dyers, woad is known as a dye plant.   Woad is an ancient flowering plant in the mustard family used in medieval times as blue dye and for its medicinal properties.   The dye extracted from the leaves produces a weak form of indigo - replaced later after the 17th century by​ Indigofera tinctoria. 

It all started when I decided to plant a dye garden, and bought several types of seeds, including both indigo and woad.   Unfortunately, the indigo did not germinate, but the woad grew nicely in one section of my raised bed.   Woad is a bi-annual plant.  During its first year of growth, the leaves can be used to create a dye.  The leaves are broad and tender, and smell a bit like cabbage.  The second year, the plant isn't much good for dying, but produces tiny yellow flowers which turn into many many seeds.   I first grew some woad in 2023 and managed to dye some fiber.  As a responsible woad plant grower, in its second year I cut the seed stalks before they scattered and saved them in a jar for future use.   This year, I grew a few more.   

Information about dying with woad is available, but there are few sources.   Even the dye books rarely mention it.   Perhaps because of the risk of it becoming invasive, and that indigo produces a truer blue it has fallen to the wayside.   I found one web site and followed her instructions with satisfactory results.  The color is not vivid and dark, maybe because I have a small patch and used too much fiber... but it did produce a nice turquoise blue on my mohair. I've read that they can be harvested more than once in a growing season if you leave the plant and the small center leaves.  

Being Mid to late July - it was time to harvest, Some of the leaves were getting past their prime, so those were discarded.   I didn't weigh the harvest, but after shredding them by hand, they filled a five gallon bucket half full.  
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Step 2:   The next step was to cover the leaves with boiling hot water, and cover them with a tight lid for 45 minutes.    After soaking, I removed the leaves by pouring the mixture through a strainer.   The liquid was a rusty red color.   

Step 3:  Add ammonia to reach a pH of 9.   It didn't take much to achieve the proper pH.   The color turned from the orangey red to a murky green.    Now its time to aerate the vat.    This is accomplished by pouring the liquid back and forth between two buckets, for about 10 minutes.   The vat will become frothy.  

Step 4:   Add a color remover/ color reducing agent.  For this activity i added 1 1/2 packages of RIT color remover powder, sprinkled on the top of the 5 gallon solution.   Cover with an airtight lid, and wait 45 minutes.   The solution turns a translucent yellow, with green along the rim.   I'm adding two separate photos here, from the two times I've tried this method. 

Step 5:   Add the fiber!    Add wet fibers to the vat.  Do not agitate.  The goal is to prevent adding introducing air to the vat.    Being uncertain how long to leave the fiber in the vat, I waited 15 minutes and then removed the fibers.   As the fiber is exposed to air, it magically begins to move from yellow to blue.   In this case, the mohair becomes a bluish/ green color.  I'll let it dry overnight, and then rinse tomorrow.    The wool yarn did not take the dye quite as well as the mohair, showing a much lighter bluish green.  The total weight of fiber used with this vat was 1.75 pounds. Each dip producing a lighter color.