PLAY: Flower Power

Dyeing Flowers::『着色』:: el colorante

Materials:

White Flowers (we picked-up some fallen blooming branches from our neighbor’s tree)
Scissors
Water
Food Coloring
Stir

Fill a variety of vases with water, add food coloring. We experimented – some of the vases we filled only with one (1) color – about twenty (20) drops; other’s we combined – for example: yellow and red, to make orange.

Cut the flowers on a diagonal. A fresh cut is important so that the stem can absorb as much water as possible. If the cut is not fresh, the end dries and makes it difficult for the stem to absorb water.

Place the flowers in your dye solution(s).

Watch and wait. Check daily, in our case the change was very slow – it took almost a week before we could see any color change.

⚗️What is happening? Stems and roots absorb water to nourish the rest of the tree, plant and flowers. The continued movement of the water throughout the plant is called capillary action. When the water is dyed, the color moves along with the water. After the water reaches the leaves and flowers, it evaporates (this is called transpiration). However, the dye does not evaporate – instead it remains on the flower petals.

What do you think would happen if the water was poisonous? Or polluted?

Unfortunately – in our case, only one of the color solutions produced any color! Why was this? My hypothesis is that because we used a woody stem, the water that was absorbed didn’t evaporate as quickly (it remained in the woody stem longer), thus the capillary cycle was slower than the ability of the branch to remain alive without proper root propagation.

Which expert can confirm such a hypothesis? A Botanist – a scientist who studies plant life.

♻️ — > “Art Supplies & More”