Spring Weather, Seeds, Mordants

I’m glad that I spent a few days last week preparing the raised garden beds, turning soil, pulling weeds, etc. The last few days have been great weather wise.

Yesterday Blue Jay, Lucy, Pi Guy and I took a bike ride to the Dog Tooth Café. Awesome weather, in the seventies, blue sky.

I also went to Rick’s Garden Center, I found that they carry Burpee seeds, and a flyer sent out recently had a 20% coupon on Burpee seeds. I asked Blue Jay if she wanted to go. If all the spring flowers were out she would have gone. As it was it was just me.

Rick's did have the Starlet Scarlet Marigold that Jael insisted on from A Dyer’s Garden. I also purchased some Basil, Shasta Daisy, Hibiscus, Zinnia, Mammoth Sunflower, some regular Marigold mix, and Red Hot Poker Mix just for fun. I also purchased some peat pots.

I still have some mordant that I need to buy to make our experiments complete. For the tin mordant, was able to locate stannous chloride at B & H Photo. This, also, is a special order for them. I ordered it with the alum, it should take two to four weeks. They have it for about $30 for100 grams. I opted for the 10 gram size (for starters) at $6.

Potassium dichromate for the chrome mordant is a slightly different story. If you happen to be in New York City, B & H Photo has potassium dichromate, but because of the hazard, they don’t ship it. It has it’s own personal “No Fly Zone”. I have some more research to do. I was thinking a metal plating shop. The nearest to me is Denver, about 60 miles distant. But I have located some about 10 miles closer at Colorado Scientific Company. They sell educational materials.

The purchase list for mordants is: ammonium aluminum sulfate and stannous chloride, copper sulfate, and tannic acid from B&H Photo, allowing two to four weeks; Cream of Tarter from Safeway or King Soopers; walnut shells from walnuts also from Safeway or King Soopers. We were fortunate to find copper sulfate for copper mordanting in a home school chemistry set, with the option to replenish our supplies from there. Or, our stand by B & H Photo has it. ~$9/ lb.

Happy fabric treating!