Don't Throw out your Avocado Food Waste: Dyeing Wool + Crafting Buttons

Hello friends! Dyeing wool or yarn with avocados is nothing new. In fact I already did a video on that at the very start of this channel. However dyeing the colour pink from these food scraps seems to be more difficult than anticipated. I tried again after only having dyed a pale peach last time, and well... see for yourself. Now, dyeing wool is not the only craft we'll be tackling in this video! No, I'm also going to craft some buttons by carving the pits of the avocados. For that all you need (apart from the pits) is a kitchen knife. So don't throw out your avocado scraps, for they are a very usable craft supply!
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You can also find me on Ravelry and Instagram as @MijnWolden
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#crafting #avocadodye #naturaldye #zerowastecrafting #sustainablecrafts #buttons #mijnwolden

[@maralusis5434]

From my experience, the peels and pits of the avocado must be entirely free of the avocado flesh to get true pink. Otherwise - the brown comes out.

[@MijnWolden]

Yeah I thought so much

[@CH-sk7jr]

Also, love the subtitles as always! 😂 I have auditory processing disorder and rely heavily on subtitles as a result, so it’s fantastic to have extra content and jokes scattered throughout the subtitles. It really adds to the experience and makes using them feel more like a fun choice than a necessity to actually hear what’s going on. Keep up the great work!

[@MijnWolden]

Thank you 😁

[@kalka1l]

Someone else saw that avocado button video and immediately thought of making their own. Hooray!

[@MijnWolden]

Hooray!

[@mightymochi5790]

I have not tried the avocado dyeing myself, but I have seen people get different ranges of color based on the water source used in the process. More specifically, the ph of the water seems to heavily influence how the color comes out. I have watched a few videos that discuss this so i would research the ph in relation to the color you are trying to achieve.

[@mightymochi5790]

MyraMadeColor and CabinBoyKnits here on yt have good videos about this!

[@MijnWolden]

Testing PH goes a little above and beyond what my chaos brain can handle at the moment haha

[@resourcedragon]

@@MijnWolden: Litmus paper and pH testing kits have always struck me as ridiculously expensive, I'm sure it doesn't cost _that_ much to manufacture them.

[@ruthsimpson4974]

Distorted buttons are now funky beads,

[@Anna-tc4eu]

Great experiment! I believe that if you only use the peels, you'll get more of a pink. The Pitts add a brown/orange hue to it.

[@MijnWolden]

Thank you!

[@VultureSkins]

I love your dress/top in the last section! The sleeves are so cute

[@MijnWolden]

Thank you, it's thrifted 😁

[@xhex6571]

I saw a video once where the man said Hass avocado are better for pinks than Shepherd avocados. I haven't tried either but he got some good colours. I'll try and find the channel name!

[@xhex6571]

Seems I remembered what he said wrong but he did mention the type! Cabin Boy Knits was the channel. Also Myra Made Color gets some really nice pinks with her avocados, might be worth a look 💜💜

[@MijnWolden]

Thank you ☺️

[@marthaturner3866]

I am loving your cheerful vlogs. I embrace the spirit you have (the try it and see what happens approach)

[@MijnWolden]

Thank you ☺️

[@woolaroundtheworld]

Thanks for sharing pink is overrated anyway. Have a lovely day

[@madamesasquatch]

I have gotten pink from avocados that look as orange as those....but I mordanted with soy, Might make the difference. They were also frozen and I was very cautious with temperature, and cooked pits until they fell apart

[@AutumnFictions]

I haven’t tried natural dyes myself, but I did find an article that suggested the pits give more pink and the skins give more peach. Also that vinegar gives a lighter pink while the baking soda gives a deeper pink. I haven’t checked to see if you’ve redone this project since this video, but I look forward to more dying shenanigans 😁😊

[@MijnWolden]

Haven't yet, but thanks for the tip!

[@CH-sk7jr]

Love all the creative uses of “waste”/scraps! Would definitely be interested in seeing you try to make paint/ink with the sanding dust.

[@moonbasket]

So fun! I didn't know you could dye with avocados at all. Turned out lovely!

[@MijnWolden]

Thank you 😁

[@BeQueerMakeStuff]

Well, I copied your dandelion dye (it worked so good!!) and now I'm staring at the 4 avocados I just bought at the store today hahaha. ;) You continue to be a wonderful inspiration. Love your energy. :D

[@MijnWolden]

How great, have fun! 😁

[@DeniseODaniels]

love the buttons gf. i am gonna do this...love the colors of the avocado yarn u made.

[@MijnWolden]

Have Fun!

[@TarotLadyLissa]

I buy bags of mini avocados. Their pits are perfect button size! I have a bag of pits in my freezer waiting for dye day. I’ve gotten pink from them, but I used a slow cooker to make the dye bath. I chopped the pits up a bit and let it extract on low for 10 hours. Then I let it naturally cool overnight. Next day I strain the dye bath into my stock pot and proceed from there with dyeing. I never let it boil, simmer is ok, but whenever I’ve let it boil I loose some of the pink.

[@MijnWolden]

Mini avocados! I've never seen those before

[@TarotLadyLissa]

@@MijnWolden they’re adorable and delicious! They’re basically 1/3 of the size, and so is the pit. The pit is about the size of a red grape.

[@paloma_hill]

what a gorgeous color! I don't think it's a variety of avocado thing. there's three major species and a LOT of different varieties but grocery stores tend to be very boring and only carry a couple of very durable predictable varieties. to get the stock for the hardy Mexican avocados I'm growing I had to find the handful of weirdos in Florida who have them, and then the crazy tropical ones like the long necked avocados and red skinned avocados are only really sold locally from small growers.

[@paloma_hill]

so.... maybe harvest time, transport conditions? the freezing? water composition? too many potential factors, lol! or maybe all the examples of pink dyes are from California and they would have more varieties there for sure. I've never been to California.

[@Vmarsh241]

Just a thought, in case your revenge experiment requires its own revenge experiment😄-I got a very nice soft pink using only the skins, well scrubbed of all flesh, and frozen. I cold soaked them in a 6:1 water to ammonia bath for several days (maybe weeks?)-no heat-then added my wool, heated gently for an hour or so and left overnight to cool…I wonder if playing with the pH of the dye bath might shift the color? Anyways, LOVE the dyeing experiments-I’m hoping the arrival of spring portends more materials to try with!

[@MijnWolden]

PH being a thing is what a lot of People are suggesting yes

[@ThisSmallGnome]

I saw an avocado button video that called out the natural split line of the pit, where the plant would split it when it sprouts. Did the boiled buttons split on that line?

[@MijnWolden]

The frozen ones did, but the boiled ones went for where I tried to make the holes in the buttons.

[@jenniferbrighty5120]

Hi Jente, I hope you're OK xx ❣️❣️❣️ Thankyou so much for sharing this video podcast. I love the -Revenge Dying, I actually love the colour you got. I've never eaten Avocado's and I don't Dye euther so I have to go on what you say and do, but I'd be very happy with the colours if the Floof. I love the Buttons, I've never actually seen anyone try to nake their own. I think you got a pretty win, win situation. 😊😊 Happy Dying and Button Making Fibre Friend. 🪴🔆 Take care and stay safe Lots of love and Big Hugs Jen xxxx ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🐕

[@MijnWolden]

Thank you, Jen ☺️

[@jenniferbrighty5120]

@@MijnWolden Hi Jente, I hope you're OK xx ❣️❣️❣️ You're very welcome xx 🥰🥰❣️❣️ Thankyou so much for the Heart ♥ Sending Heart ♥ back to you ❤️💞 I hope you have a Wonderful Weekend 🔆🌞🌟 Happy Dying and Spinning Fibre Friend 🎉🎡🐑🥰 Take care and stay safe Lots of love, Blessings and Big Hugs Jen xxxx ❤️❤️❤️❤️🙏🙏🙏🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🐕

[@marcydrake9159]

This loser loves your style!! 🫶🥰🧶

[@MijnWolden]

Thank you ☺️

[@etienne6916]

Get in loser, today we dye orangy-brown with pink undertones! 😅 can't wait to see the buttons on a finished project! they will look so cool! :)

[@MijnWolden]

At least we're going crafting 😁

[@etienne6916]

best destination! :D

[@fooledtook]

I wonder if letting the boiled pits dry out before cutting into them would make a difference? This was a really fun video!

[@MijnWolden]

🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔 ahhh now I need to try again

[@fooledtook]

@@MijnWolden for science!

[@MijnWolden]

And shenanigans!

[@raevynwoods9403]

Ohh I love the colour of the wool! Do you think the baking soda helped? I've never made buttons out of avocado pits, but recently let a few germinate (?) and I now have two pits with stalks and leaves growing out of them!

[@MijnWolden]

Oh how cool! Hopefully you have your own tree soon 😁

[@bagladysendtheferalspinner3761]

wonderful idea for buttons

[@Tinas_Workshop]

I have not tried avacado yet, but I wonder if the pits will give a different color than the peals?🤔 I did know someone when I was young that would carve animals out of the pits. So far for me my best pink was pokeberries but they are a pain to use but my favorite that gave me a dusty pink was the leaves of ice plant.

[@MijnWolden]

Don't think we have pokeberries here 🤔

[@Tinas_Workshop]

@MijnWolden I didn't think we did either then I found some in my dad's yard. I had to be super careful of the seeds so my dogs didn't get them because that is the poisonous part. I did a video on it if you want to know more.

[@Suzco123]

Love the buttons... And the colours you achieved are pretty great lets be honest 😃 A great success I'd say 🥰

[@kalka1l]

7:52 So I did a little digging, could the availability of soluble tannins be affected by freezing? I read an article about tannin retention variability in slow vs. fast freezing for persimmons and my guess is adding some fresh tannins or perhaps another mordant could fix the rosy hues you clearly have in the dye bath.

[@kalka1l]

‘In slowly frozen flesh, soluble tannins decreased greatly during thawing, and the thawed flesh was almost non-astringent. However, rapidly frozen flesh was still astringent after being thawed.’ excerpt from ‘Effects of freezing rate on astringency reduction in persimmon during and after thawing’. You are in the right track! Keep going!

[@MijnWolden]

That's some great research!

[@PapercraftLady]

Great experiment, and you are so entertaining! You may already have a video on this, but I always wonder if there is something useful to do with the beautiful red water after cooking beets. In the past, I've "dyed" popsicle sticks by soaking them in the warm, red water after adding a bit of vinegar. They come out a beautiful, rich color akin to cherry wood. I donated them to a kindergarten teacher to have fun with her kids. I am going to subscribe to your channel now!

[@MijnWolden]

beets and cabbage are very fugitive dye. great for painting easter eggs, not so much for wool etc :)

[@PapercraftLady]

@@MijnWolden Too bad, beet juice is such a beautiful color! Thanks!

[@linr8260]

I wanna see the avocado paint 👀 Also, if these buttons are still full of the orange dye, is there a chance they'd bleed with use?

[@MijnWolden]

Not sure... Need to test 🤔

[@eyup951]

well I might just go bother my sister for all of her avocado scraps, she eats them basically every day. And while those colors might not be pink they certainly are pretty!

[@MijnWolden]

Yes go and bother!

[@missmeakat]

I wonder if solar dyeing would get you pink? Avocado seems to be very temperature sensitive so solar dyeing would let it work very slowly and gently?

[@MijnWolden]

Worth a try!

[@lynnjosephy]

Hi mijn wolden, I just made some avocado buttons. I was wondering if you wash your clothing with these buttons.. does it give off color? As avocado pits are also used as a natural dye. If yes, is there a way to prevent the color from leaching onto the fabric? Is there like a natural and durable way to seal the avocado buttons so they can endure washing and don't / or no longer give off color? What has your experience been like, after using them for some time now? Kind regards, L

[@resourcedragon]

So if the uncooked pits are orange and the cooked ones are nearly white, doesn't that mean that there is a danger that the uncooked ones will bleed in the wash, especially if the wash is being done in hot water. Ooh, looking at the dried boiled buttons, I do wonder if the others will survive a few washes, even if you don't use hot water. Sorry to sound like a bit of a downer but I think there is a need to be a little cautious with things like TikTok & Instagram &c crafts. Once you've used the buttons and put them through the wash a few times, could you please report on how they stand up to wear and tear.

[@MijnWolden]

I'll report back 🧐

[@resourcedragon]

@@MijnWolden: By the way, even if the dyed fibre wasn't quite pink, it still turned out well. And I am definitely curious as to how the buttons go.

[@brandyolin5979]

I wonder if there is any relation (chemically not biologically) to safflower dye? That's a plant that gives orange or pink depending on the dye process? I have a TON of saved pits. Mostly Hass variety. We'll see how it goes!

[@MijnWolden]

Good luck!

[@rashna671]

Cringe? No! You are recycling your intros! And we all know recycling is very eco-friendly. Ive heard that avocados with darker skin with that very slight reddish undertone are more likely to give pink but the undertone of my avocados are very similar to the peachy color I also get so maybe it isnt true....Edit to add: Ive also heard just the pit gives more pink but I just dont eat enough avocado in one season to test that...

[@MijnWolden]

That's why I put them in the freezer, because I also don't eat enough of them 😅

[@resourcedragon]

So that's making me think that the ripeness of the avocado might also be a factor. Unripe avos* are almost a bright green, whereas the fully ripened ones are much darker and do have that sort of reddish undertone to which you referred. * Australian for avocadoes

[@peigirl23]

Play around with adding a little vinegar or salt?

[@MijnWolden]

🤔🤔🤔 I'll try next time