Avocado love

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I wouldn't have guessed it, but did you know that avocado peels can dye fabric and pink for all that?  I first saw it on Gerdiary (here too), then several others mentioned it in the Spirit Cloth class.  Check out these posts: here, here and here.

Since I was in the dyeing mood, I thought I'd give it a go.  It makes pretty pale pinks, though the silk is a bit different.  Here's what I did.  I cleaned off the peels and pits from 1.5 avocados (all we had) and put them in some water to boil.   I let it simmer about 1 hour, let it cool and strained it.  I didn't chop the pits at all as that seemed too dangerous.  They ended up splitting on their own.  Then I put the dye in a tub and added the bottom five pieces of fabric.  I forgot about the silk scraps until two days later so they only got about 12 hours in the dye bath.  The others got over 48 hours.  Fabrics are, from top to bottom: silk, harem cloth, cotton voile, combed cotton lawn, linen and pimatex cotton.  It looks like more striking colors may come from chopping the pits or separating the pits from the peels.  Also, I didn't add a mordant, so I have no idea if they are washfast or lightfast.  I don't suppose I'll use them on anything where that matters.  

Today I'm off to Portland to send Chloe off on her European adventure with the People to People Student Ambassador Program!  I'm insanely jealous, but I'll let you know what her impressions are when she gets back!