Avocado Pit Dye: Dyeing from the Kitchen
March 8, 2021Both avocado peels and pits produce beautiful colour. They can be used separately or together to get a variety of shades. In this example I will be using pits only. These pits were collected over time and stored in a bag in the freezer to avoid mold growth.
When dyeing with whole avocado pits you will want to have roughly a 1:1 ratio of fibres to dye-stuff, meaning that the weight of the avocado pits should be equal to the DWoG of your chosen fibres. This is especially important for cellulose fibres which generally don’t absorb colour as easily as protein fibres. The more concentrated you make your dye bath, using more dye stuff, the deeper shades you will get.
Follow these general instructions:
- In a pot large enough to allow your fibres to move freely, heat up enough water to cover your fibres until simmering. Do NOT boil the water, this can burn the dye-bath and will result only in brown shades.
- Add your clean avocado pits.
- Stir occasionally and leave simmering for an hour and a half, or until you reach a deep coloured dye bath. At this point you can dye your fibres right away, or you can remove the dye bath from the heat and allow it to sit overnight to deepen the colour.
- With a strainer, separate the avocado pits from the dye bath. You can dry them and try extracting more dye out of them a second time.
- Add your pre-wetted, mordanted fibre and stir to make sure you get all the fibres dyed evenly.
- Leave simmering for 2 hours and stir occasionally.
- Turn off the heat and leave your fibres in the pot for up to 24 to 48 hours. (Colours will deepen when sitting in the pot)
- After you’re done dyeing your fibres, rinse them until the water runs clear. I have also rinsed my dyed fibres on a rinse cycle in the washing machine.
- Hang your fibres to dry.
Keep reading to see my own experiment and the results I got!
Fibres I used: Mercerized Cotton; Silk Habotai; 100% Wool
Paper I used: Canson Watercolour 140lb cold pressed; Canson Mix Media 98lb
For the fibres I did 3 tests per colour. I had a series of unmordanted samples, a series of alum mordanted samples, and a series of soy mordanted samples.
Alum mordant: Follow this link for detailed instructions.
I mordanted silk habotai, wool and cotton in alum. I used a 17% solution and mordanted them using the stovetop method.
Soy Mordant: I only mordanted my cotton in soy, as the other fibres are protein fibres already. Link to instructions.
I soaked my fibres overnight in the soy milk, and did the “quick dip” step 3 additional times over 2 days. I then let the cotton “cure” for 3 days before dyeing.
After I completed my mordanting I was ready to move onto dyeing the fibres!
My first step was to weigh my fibres, which came out to 58.1g. While some recipes call for a 1:1 ration of avocado pits to fibres, I decided to double it and I used 2x the weight in avocado pits to fibres to achieve a deeper coloured dye bath.
Once I had all my fibres and avocado pits weighed and set aside, I filled a large pit with roughly 8 cups of water and brought it to a simmer. I then added my clean avocado pits and let them simmer at a low temperature for 2 hours. After I was satisfied with the colour of the dye bath, I separated the avocado pits from the dye bath with a strainer and placed the dye bath back on the stove. As the bath was reheating I made sure to pre-wet my fibres to ensure an even absorption of dye. To pre-wet the fibres I just filled a bowl with hot water and made sure to submerge all my fibre samples.
I wrung out my samples after about 15 minutes and added them one-by-one to the dye pot, making sure each sample was submerged. I let the samples dye for 2 hours on the heat, I stirred and flipped the fibres occasionally during this period. I then turned off the heat and allowed the fibres to rest in the dye pot for an additional 4 hours as the pot cooled. My final step was to rinse the samples under the tap until the water ran clear, then I hung them to air dry.
I next proceeded to use my same avocado pit dye bath to dye some paper! I used Canson Watercolour 140lb cold pressed and Canson Mix Media 98lb papers, both of which are affordable, versatile and accessible.
I first painted on my papers with soy milk. This will cause the dye to attach to the protein in the soy milk to achieve a different colour. Painting with soy milk is a easy way to create designs and patterns! You can also follow the same steps as you would with fibres and mordant your paper with soy milk as well, just don’t put it in the washing machine.
Once the soy milk was dry I submerged each paper in the avocado pit dye one at a time, waiting for each previous sheet to be completely wet before adding another sheet.
I soaked the paper for roughly an hour before hanging them to dry.
From left to right: Canson Mix Media 98lb, Canson Watercolour 140lb cold pressed, Alum Mordant, No Mordant, Soy Milk Mordant
After completing the initial dyeing of my samples, I further divided these samples into smaller groups. These groups were so that I could “post-modify” my samples; meaning change their pH and therefore their colour! My three groups were: no post-mordant, acidic post-mordant and basic post-mordant.
Acidic post-mordant:
- Pre-wetted the fibres
- Mixed white vinegar and hot water at a 1:1 ratio
- Submerged the fibres in the vinegar solution for 5 minutes
- Removed the fibres, rinsed under the tap
- Further rinsed fibres in hot water with a few drops of synthrapol
- Hung fibres to air dry
- I used the same vinegar solution to modify my paper samples.
From left to right: Canson Mix Media 98lb, Canson Watercolour 140lb cold pressed, Alum Mordant, No Mordant, Soy Milk Mordant
Basic post-mordant:
- Pre-wetted the fibres
- Mixed baking soda and hot water to create a basic solution
- Use 2 tsp baking soda per 1 cup of water, I used 8 tsp of baking soda in 4 cups of water
- Submerged the fibres in the basic solution for 5 minutes
- Removed the fibres, rinsed under the tap
- Further rinsed fibres in hot water with a few drops of synthrapol
- Hung fibres to air dry
- I used the same baking soda solution to modify my paper samples.
From left to right: Canson Mix Media 98lb, Canson Watercolour 140lb cold pressed, Alum Mordant, No Mordant, Soy Milk Mordant