I returned today to two trees I have sampled a little that are growing on my favourite running track. We rode our bikes down it, so I took pictures (and some more leaves, needless to say!)
Into the dye pot they went, with a sample card.
Since I have two burners, I also ran a pot from leaves I collected when we went planting native trees on a friend’s farm. It looked like E Cinerea to me… but an enormous tree, growing where there is so much more water than in the city where we live.
The dye pot confirms that the E Cinerea gives great colour. And the mystery trees gave rusty orange with some tan undertones on handspun wool with no mordant, and brown on alum mordanted superwash. Even more intriguing, really!
Local & Bespoke 
Surprisingly, I get yellow on cineria with alum.
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That’s interesting! I have shared E Cinerea leaves with another dyer at the Guild who gets a pale apricot, while I can usually get a deep orange–but I think this is more about the quantity of wool he uses relative to the amount of leaves. I wonder why you get yellow? Do you know?
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