Comments on: NATURAL DYES

By: Laura

Laura — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 17:56:48 +0000

I’ve had great results from the natural dyes that don’t require mortants, indigo, onion skins, turmeric and sumac. You can buy a concentrated indigo dye kit on Darma Trading that will dye more than fifteen shirts for about $8.00. No heating required and you can use a plastic pail to mix it in, lasts for days!

By: karen brown

karen brown — Sun, 02 Sep 2012 15:38:54 +0000

Out here (California) my favorite natural dyer is Rebecca Burgess of Fibershed. She has written a beautiful book called “Harvesting Color.” It’s one of the most inspirational books — inspirational in terms of craft AND a way to live — that I have read in a long time.

By: Kacie

Kacie — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 18:52:00 +0000

Thank you for sharing! I have also been experimenting with local dyes… right now Black Eyed Susans and Crate Myrtles are providing beautiful results… check it out!

http://allpaca.org/2012/08/15/natural-dye-journal-entry-2-continuing-with-black-eyed-susan/

By: Tracy

Tracy — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 15:12:21 +0000

Thank you — I love natural dyes and, being new to AC, had no idea you used plant-based dyes for your cotton. Can’t wait to buy some of your plain cotton and dye it myself!

(If anyone is interested, I highly recommend Rita Buchanan’s A Dyer’s Garden — my favorite dyeing book. It’s really great.)

Also I’d like to second India’s comment — use the pot as your mordant and let the fabric sit for as long as you can (I leave mine in the bucket up to three days). The type of plant matters too — I get beautiful, bright yellows/oranges from small amounts of dyer’s coreopsis.

For what it’s worth, anyway

By: Kathleen

Kathleen — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 17:58:54 +0000

Absolutely beautiful. I am so loving all of your recent posts. I love yellow and am looking forward to the new colors.

By: india

india — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 21:49:43 +0000

toxic mordants re not necessary – i use processes that involve pot-as-mordant rather than added metallic salts [and believe me there is a huge difference in toxicity levels].

time is your friend in the dyebath and i’m convinced one of the reasons that synthetic dyes became so popular so quickly [after William Henry Perkin discovered mauve by accident in 1856] is that colour was virtually instant. i’ve written a couple of books on the subject but as this forum is not the place to advertise wares, i will merely say that while many traditional plant dye books have wonderful colour possibilities, these will be heavily influenced by local water quality and growing conditions for plants, let alone the fabric you use.

i CAN say though that the organic cotton jersey from AC dyes beautifully and doesn’t lose any of it’s lovely handling quality in a natural dyebath.

By: Oami

Oami — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 16:23:50 +0000

I’ve done a bit of natural dyeing but have in general stayed away from it because of the toxicity of most mordants. Does that factor into your choice to use them at all?