Making Pigment from Invasive Species: Red Clover
May 24th: Today I collected Red Clovers from the garden at Farmscape Ecology Program. From what I read online, just like Dandelion, it seems there are areas where Red Clovers are not considered invasive, and provide some benefits to wildlife.
Despite its benefits to wildlife and agriculture, there is a downside to this introduced plant. While clover does not present a serious ecological threat, botanists point out it does present competition for native plants, and several Trifolium species are known to invade natural areas in some parts of the U.S. outside the Northeast. (via The Outside Story: Clover, flower or weed? on rutlandherald.com.)
Red clovers were blooming purple-ish dark pink flowers and had a little purple-ish tint on part of their stems, which made me wonder if there was purple-ish pigment in this plant.
I cut the stems into small pieces and cooked them for 20 minutes. Just like last time with the garlic mustard roots, the dye came out to be clear green. I poured the dye into the jar and added some alum, which turned the dye into greenish brown. Then I added washing soda, which turn the dye into a cloudy light olive green.
What came out is this pigment that is an olive color with a tint of rather gold/brown than green. I will test-paint with it and see how the color will appear.
