Avocados are trendy right now, from avo toast to guacamole, they seem to be everywhere on Instagram, but for me, Avocados are a familiar fruit.
In Colombia (where I'm from) Avocados are part of many national dishes. Even eating them almost every week, I never know that you can natural dye fabrics using their skin.
Not only you can dye with them, but you also get a beautiful pink (knowns as millennial pink); Here I'm going to explain to you how to dye with Avocado skins and get that characteristic colour.
What you need:
-Natural Fabric like cotton or wool (already scored and mordanted, and moistured)
-Avocado skins (Quantity depends on how rich you want the final colour to be)
-Medium size Pot (which pot material should I use? check my last post)
-Wooden or plastic spoon
-Old cloth or cheese mousseline
-Sieve
Remember to scoured and mordanted or pretreated the fabric before starting the dyeing process.
Step 1
Put the avocado skins into a pot and cover them with water; the amount depends on the final colour you want to archive, more avocado skins give you richer colours.
Here is also important to consider the type of avocado you are using, I recommend using Hass avocado; in my experience, I feel it contains more colour.
Step 2
Heat the pot at low temperature for about 2-3 hours, on my first attempt I put the pot in hight temperature and boiled the water which cooks the avocados; this will cause the colour to shift from pink to brown.
So if you're looking for a pink result, maintain a low temperature.
During these hours occasionally mix with a wooden or plastic spoon.
Step 3
After 2-3 hours turn the heat and check the colour, if you already have a bight colour you can continue to step 4; otherwise, you can leave the pot overnight this aloud the skins to release all the colour.
Step 4
Past the dye through a sieve to remove the avocado skins, and then past it through the old cloth to remove small avocado pieces that can stain the fabric.
Step 5
Clean the pot and put the dye back, one by one dip the fabric on it (the fabric should be cover by the water if you need you can add more water to the mix), put the pot back to heat at low temperature for about 30 minutes; during this time mix very well the textile to avoid stains.
Step 6
After 30 minutes check the colour, if you are satisfied with it, turn off the heat and remove the fabric, drain it very well and washed with a gentle soap; otherwise, leave it for a little more time, it depends on the final result you want to archive.
Step 7 and the last step
Dry the fabric in the shadow.
In only seven steps we manage to give a white fabric a beautiful pink colour;
Now the only thing left for me to say is: let eat lots of avocados!