Dye on dye experimentation

To test if my FMP initial idea would work, I tested all of my natural dyes on each other, as I planned on using the avocado skin dye on top of a piece of fabric dyed with avocado stones. From this test, I can see that it wouldn’t work, and for a colour to show up, I would have to use beetroot or cabbage and as I already plan on using cabbage in my final piece, that only leaves beetroot. To add another possibility, I tested using lemon juice to bleach the fabric naturally, which worked better but still didn’t show up well enough on the avocado fabric.

From these experiments, it’s clear I have to change my final piece idea and find a natural substance to paint on to my wall hanging. One possibility is beetroot juice, which produced a blue on the avocado dyed samples, and another possibility is cabbage, which produce a darker blue and can change colour by altering the pH. I will test these out on separate and larger avocado samples once I think of a new design idea for my final piece.