Blogging for Sol: Bloody Late!

Unadjusted turmeric dye, which turns red with low pH!

Hello, Spiders! I'm sorry this post is so late. On Thursday I lost track of time, on Friday I was busy and I was out of town this weekend. I think I've already paid for the lateness; it rained both days I was trying to visit friends and go to the zoo. Thor was displeased with my lack of attention.

On Friday, I was a visiting artist at UNCC again! It was great, for all the same reasons it was great last time. Engaged students who were really interested in what I had to teach them, willing to try it out and even experiment on their own!

I demonstrated anthotypes using red cabbage juice, which turns from violet to teal when the pH is lowered by adding baking soda, washing soda or borax. In this case, we used washing soda. That went over really well, and one student in particular tried experimenting with the other dyes I had brought: turmeric and sandalwood. To my surprise, the turmeric experiment showed very interesting results!

When its pH is lowered, turmeric dye changes from goldenrod yellow to bloody, garnet red! It's truly a lovely color. It fades a bit when applied to paper, but it can be applied in a thick, paste-like form and the paper stains pretty darn well! I assume, though I have not yet tested, that it could also be used to soak the paper and create a strong red in that way. I assume all the normal problems with soaking paper would be present in that case, though.

This new potential color source for a bright red is fascinating and I hope to do some experiments in the coming week, despite the rain and clouds. I'll update this post with photos as soon as I'm able to mix up a batch, coat and image!

Edit: DAGNAMBIT!!! I finished this post juuust before midnight, but the time to insert the image rolled it over and now it's logged as being posted on Monday. Bugger. All hail the Moon!