With only a couple of days left in Denmark, I have been planning my seaweed research project that will occur over the summer here, as well as researching ways that I can continue my seaweed-studies in Oregon!
During my time here, I have focused on two types of seaweed and their color: The common toothed wrack (fucus serratus), as well as the bladder wrack (fucus vesiculosis):
Toothed-Wrack Seaweed: This type has been giving me those beautiful pink/brown tones.
In Oregon, I hope to conduct a larger study on the Seaweed of the PNW, focusing on the bright red-colored dulse seaweed. I´ve been communicating with Chuck Toombs of Oregon Dulse, who owns two dulse seaweed farms: one in Bandon and a new farm in Garibaldi, Oregon that will be coming online for this year´s growing season. I am eager to visit the seaweed farms and learn more about the possibilities of dulse´s use as a sustainable natural dye!
In order to bring back some Danish seaweed with me to Oregon (so I can keep experimenting), I tried dehydrating the seaweed, to see if it was still usable as a dye after. I was amazed to see that the seaweed seemed to come back to life in the dye pot, and still produces color!
Here are some photos of the dehydration process and after:
And some quick toothed wrack dye tests with the dehydrated seaweed on cotton and wool (no mordant, but used seawater as a natural fixative):
