grabbing color before it’s gone

out temps have dropped below freezing at night now. so the vibrant colors will be gone soon enough. i actually like the fall colors even more once they have been saddened a bit by the cold. in natural dying, you sadden a dye by adding a copper or iron mordant. the metals will add a little bit of black, brown, or greenish-blue to the dye, making the original dye just a little softer (or muddier or duller depending on your perspective i suppose).  i prefer these softer earth tones, to the vibrant jewel tones. but, that’s not going to stop me from trying to capture these last few days of vibrancy.

collected bits of vibrant red in nature