Dyeing to Try It...

So, in case you didn't realize, I brew home brew beer with my best friend. Well, I kept the hops sludge, and the grain bags from them to do a little experimenting. I boiled another "wort" batch from the bigger grain bag, until it was dark, dark, dark! Can you guess what I did then? Mmmmhmmm, I started cutting hunks of muslin and throwing it into the wort. Then I boiled it for a good long while, then, I let it sit.

Now this is ironic, because while on a google search for something else, I found an article about dyeing with fungus and lichens, apparently you can get greens and reds from those. Ok, so back to the fabric wort story. I let the stuff sit in the wort for five days (okay, mostly because I've been at the corporate job and had not gotten to the studio to pick up my Retayne.) I ran over tonight and picked it up.

I had noticed either this morning or last night that the top of the fabric had white mold spots over the top. (Hence the trip for Retayne.) Well, I squished out the wort, then put it into the Retanye/water tub. I immediately noticed that despite the white color on the top of the mold spots, it was black and red underneath! It's currently in the washing machine right now, and I am anxiously waiting to see if the staining holds, and if the stain from the molds stays as well.

I really hope the stain stays. Given how expensive brewing is getting, it's really nice to get some other products out of the ingredients as a result. I will soon be posting pictures with another product I am getting from the waste from brewing.

I am starting to catch up on the workload at the corporate gig, which may mean studio time soon. It's so conflicting. I want to be in the studio working, but I also want a buffer of cash for the machine payments, so that I am not worrying about money while trying to be creative.

I'll post pics as soon as they are available.

Oh, and for any ant-drinkers out there. Have no fear, the beer dyed fabrics are technically non-alcoholic! Yup, it's true. The wort is the liquid BEFORE adding the yeast. And the yeast is what makes the alcohol. So anyone is free to imbibe!