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Lady's Bedstraw
by
Lili Pintea-Reed
Alizarin is the pigment which produces the red tones. Painters are familiar with the color alizarin red which, in the Middle Ages, was the same pigment bound in an oil base for paint. The pigment is actually located in the root bark of the plant, but whole or powered roots can be used with no difficulty in dyeing. Like most herbs immigrants transported to the US, it also has medical properties. It can be used for kidney stones and as a wash for slow-healing wounds. Its leaves can be juiced and used to curdle cheese for the Farmer and Pot cheeses that our ancestors were so found of. One can also stuff mattresses with it. To extract the dye from the roots, they first must be dug. This is best done in the fall when the plant concentrates substances in the roots. Several methods of extraction will work just fine. SUN METHOD: Take the fresh or dried roots and place in a two-to-one ratio with water in a large pot or jar. Sit in the sun and make sun tea soaking the dyeplant for several days. Strain and dye. SIMMER METHOD: Take a two part plant, to one part water ratio, and simmer BELOW BOILING for an hour or so. Let sit over night to cool and then strain and dye.It is very important NEVER TO BOIL madder, or bed straw as it will turn the color brown. To dye wool, silk or other protein fibers mordant the fiber or yarn first in alum solution. Then place in the dye bath and sun-soak for several days, or simmer under boiling temperature for an hour and let cool overnight. A suggestion I've gleaned over the years is to use water with a lot of lime in it to get good color. A pinch of quicklime into the dyebath works. Or you can use water in which you've boiled eggs shells before tossing them into the compost heap -- very Eco. Afterbaths tend to produce orange shades, as does dyes produced at temperatures too close to boiling. So remember not to ever boil madder root, lady's bedstraw, or cleavers root when dyeing with it. To get seeds contact:
RICHTER'S HERBS Lili References:
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