Garden Series: Weld

Title

Garden Series: Weld

Date

2020

Dimensions

55” x 45”

Media

Handwoven textile utilizing cotton and linen yarns. The fabric incorporates woven shibori resist. Alum and iron mordants, dyed with weld (reseda luteola) sourced from the artist’s garden.

Weld, like other flavonoids, is a “mordant dye”. Without the use of a mordant, color will not fix to any fiber. A mordant must be applied to the textile before is is immersed in the dye. The brilliant yellow from weld is a result of the alum mordant used in combination with the dye. If iron is used as a mordant with weld, green to brown tones result. The choice of mordant facilitates color control

In this textile, each of the woven panels was treated with alum, iron, or a combination of the two mordants. Once the mordant was properly “fixed”, the five panels were immersed together in a single dye bath of weld. As a consequence of the differing mordant applications, each panel displays a range of color from brilliant yellow to brown.