Hello , and good day, i am trying to figure out with the eucalyptus dying , to get the brilliant orange color, are you using a mordant of tin and vinegar on the leaves and soaking before . And then after the soak putting them on the material itself that has been soaked on mordant as well. Im really trying to figure this out. thank you, and have a great day Lisa Kermode
Hello Lisa,
I do not use tin mordant. I try to reduce hazards as much as possible in during process. So, ferrous sulfate and alum. I get orange from many types of eucalyptus using ferrous sulfate. With alum same type of eucalyptus would give yellow and green-yellow. I must say, that orange depends on the type os euca. Some types of euca with ferrous sulfate would give also green, not orange. Vinegar is not quite mordant, it is rather a ph modifier. I do not add vinegar. Also, I do not soak leaves in mordant. I presoak leaves in water. Dry leaves are soaked in hot water, fresh leaves are soaked in room temperature water. Time of presoaking is about 10 to 20 min. Hope this info helps.
Thank you and have a great day,
Elena Ulyanova
Hello Lisa,
I prepare fabrics for dyeing process first of all. This means that I wash, scour and do mordanting procedures. This is important for colors quality. For mordants I use most of all ferrous sulfate and alum. So, I first pretreat fabric with mordant and then I do dyeing with leaves.
The Procrastinator Dyer's Diary 
January 30th, 2015 at 21:25
Hello , and good day, i am trying to figure out with the eucalyptus dying , to get the brilliant orange color, are you using a mordant of tin and vinegar on the leaves and soaking before . And then after the soak putting them on the material itself that has been soaked on mordant as well. Im really trying to figure this out. thank you, and have a great day Lisa Kermode
January 30th, 2015 at 23:07
Hello Lisa,
I do not use tin mordant. I try to reduce hazards as much as possible in during process. So, ferrous sulfate and alum. I get orange from many types of eucalyptus using ferrous sulfate. With alum same type of eucalyptus would give yellow and green-yellow. I must say, that orange depends on the type os euca. Some types of euca with ferrous sulfate would give also green, not orange. Vinegar is not quite mordant, it is rather a ph modifier. I do not add vinegar. Also, I do not soak leaves in mordant. I presoak leaves in water. Dry leaves are soaked in hot water, fresh leaves are soaked in room temperature water. Time of presoaking is about 10 to 20 min. Hope this info helps.
Thank you and have a great day,
Elena Ulyanova
January 30th, 2015 at 21:22
are you using a mordant before getting your brilliant colors of the leaf dying process? If so what are you using?
January 30th, 2015 at 22:58
Hello Lisa,
I prepare fabrics for dyeing process first of all. This means that I wash, scour and do mordanting procedures. This is important for colors quality. For mordants I use most of all ferrous sulfate and alum. So, I first pretreat fabric with mordant and then I do dyeing with leaves.