Thanks Flap Jack,

I think the alum helps preseve the colours, making them resistant to fading. Probably not a serious problem with flies since they are not fished in hot water, though it's also supposed to help make them colour fast to the sun light too. Other metalic salts can be used, iron and chrome I recall, but some of them are poisonous. Alum is safe. Anyway, this is a very simple way to dye.

Oh, I just noticed that the plant material used for #4 is not listed, that was dandelions (using roots, leaves, stems, and flowers; if you use just the open yellow flowers you get yellow dye). Tree bark, off new growth, works too. I recently used some from a species of maple (not sure what kind) and dyed up some white lama wool and ended up with a ginger.

- Jeff