The flowers of Coreopsis tinctoria, as well as grandiflora or verticillata, amongst others, yield the most wonderful oranges. Even the stems can deliver browny oranges, or greener ranges when dried. I found a coreopsis with dark burgundy petals. Surprisingly their colours were not as clear, but it rendered a lovely green tinge to the yellows.
The colour is taken up by the textiles very quickly, even without extra heat at room temperature. In fact, a few hours seemed enough to get a strong shade. These flowers keep on giving colour after many extractions, it does seem unbelievable. I have also noticed that I get the best colours when leaving the flowers on the liquor together with the textiles.
The warmth of the sun created this movement on the exhaustion bath. Petals moving in all directions, softly, like gold liquor. Here below is some thin wool dyed with different concentrations of the coreopsis dye quite playfully, that will create a speckled effect when crochet or else.
Yarn of wool tinted with Coreopsis Tinctoria
This perennial is worthwhile growing; their bright yellow flowers smile through the greenery. They can be easily propagated to create nice borders about the place.
