Here are some dye samples I’ve made using black beans.
For column A, I soaked the beans 24 hours. It produced a light purple on silk, and light purple-blue on cotton. The colors aren’t lightfast.
For column B, I soaked the beans for 48 hours. It produced a light sage on silk, and light grey-blue on cotton. The colors aren’t lightfast.
For column C, I’ve used the same dye solution as at A but mordanted the fabric with iron liquor. It gave a dark blue on silk, and a bit lighter blue on cotton. After some weeks exposure to the sun, the colors seem to be lightfast.
I let all the fabric soak for about the same amount of time.
I’ve posted a tutorial how to dye cotton blue with black beans and iron mordant.
what was the ratio of beans to cloth used.
How were the beans prepared for dye?
I’ve died about 70g with roughly half a cup of black beans as it was just a dye sample. But I’ve now published a tutorial about how to dye with black beans.
This was very helpful! Thanks! Without you, I wouldn’t have used the iron!!! 🙂 I will finally be able to use again our stained tablecloth that had been a wedding gift! Now it is lovely and speckled and random because I applied the iron randomly, which will hide the stain splendidly! 🙂
Thanks, Tami! 🙂 I’m glad you found it helpful!
Hello, where does one get iron? is it a powder or a liquid.
I used my DIY iron liquor as mordant. Here’s the tutorial for the DIY iron liquor.