I did a bit of bundling yesterday and had a pot with iron and a pot with copper simmering.
Working towards a couple shows in the fall, I pulled out some Goodwill specials along with some pieces that I had mudded over the weekend (and which washed out almost completely; I now know the limits of the retention agent!) A quick trip around the yard yielded a number of different leaves, most of which I had not yet tried for their dyeing abilities.
To the yard gatherings I added some onion skins plus cranberries and dogwood pips that I had frozen last fall. I also had on hand some dried American smokebush leaves and some florist eucalyptus (dollar euc?) that I had been saving.
I can say with certainty that osage orange leaves do NOT give off color even though the bark and roots are great. I’ve got a couple of the small balls bundled in a pot that is cooling at the moment but I’m not expecting much of anything from them, either.
Locust leaves came through nicely.
The surprises were: determining that the maple is now ready to use – lots of nice, dark almost black;
the American smokebush gave off an almost black while I was expecting to see a yellow;
and red bud leaves and seed pods do just as good a job as the wild black cherry has in the past! I think it may become my new go-to leaf since the wild black cherry was cut down this winter. More pictures when I unbundle the next group.