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If it aint written down it didn’t happen! Keeping a dye journal for...
How to get repeatable colours with natural dyes Keeping a Natural Dye Journal Natural dyes are beautiful, sustainable, renewable. Each natural dye is made up of many different colour molecules which...
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Woad Part 1: When to Harvest
Dyer's woad plant -- ready to harvest When growing dye plants the hardest part is deciding when to harvest. Some plants reach a peak in colour and then degrade. Other plants stop growing, and need to...
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Woad Part Two: Time to Get Indigo
This scarf was dyed from an extraction vat. The pink splatters are from oxidization during dyeing. The extraction method for indigo is different from that used for other, water soluble, natural dyes....
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Fugitive Natural Dyes: Top Five Plants to Never Use for Natural Dyes
Red Cabbage, one of the fugitive natural dyes (creative commons Rick Heath) Many people say that they never use natural dyes since they are fugitive and don’t last. Well, it depends entirely on what...
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Woad Part 3: Dyeing with Woad
Wool roving on its first oxidization, for the revatting method The indigo achieved from woad is molecularly identical to that achieved from tropical indigo. However, the colour achieved is lighter, and...
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Colourfast natural dyes: how to test any natural dye for fastness
freshly dyed indigo samples ready for a colourfastness test You want to know if a common plant is a good natural dye. How do you tell? There are three criteria which a natural dye needs to have to be...
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Natural dyes: Preparing your woolly canvas
Coloured wool will impact natural dye colour differently than white wool. Experiment! No matter how good your natural dyes are, the colour will be impacted and changed by the natural fiber you choose...
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Woad is me: Blue Monday
Woad indigo, complex colour on simple weave I did not know that there was actually a day named “blue Monday” but apparently today’s the day. As part of today, I would like to share with you part of the...
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Natural Dyes: Resist and Conquer
Natural variation in natural woad indigo scarf Have you ever dyed a skein of yarn, only to find that the ties were too tight and you had a white line? I have, but, I’ve also deliberately naturally dyed...
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Top Five Tips for Naturally Dyeing Yardage
The majority of natural dying is done with natural fibres as loose fibre, yarn, or small pieces of fabric like silk scarves. These preparations are easy to dye due to their loose construction, and...
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Tips for Using Naturally Dyed Fibres and Yarn
Material dyed with natural dyes sometimes requires different treatment than material dyed with conventional dyes. Both natural and synthetic dyes form chemical bonds with the fibre, however the bonds...
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Successful Fibre Art: Preparation is Half the Battle Part 3 Prep for Dying
This is the third part in the Preparation for Fibre Art series. Part one discussed the washing part of preparation, particularly for fleece, yarn, and fabric. Part two discussed card and combing...
View ArticleLoom Controlled Shibori Scarf: A Rigid Heddle Loom Tutorial
Shibori is the ancient Japanese art of indigo dying. Utilizing resists on fabric, and the richest of indigo vats, Shibori is one of the best ways to highlight the subtlety of natural indigo dye. This...
View ArticleMordants: An Overview of Mordants for Natural Dyes
The majority of natural dyes, whether chemical dyes or natural dyes, adhere to the fiber through a chemical bond. With straight dye and fiber, this bond is easy to degrade and break. However, some...
View ArticleNatural Dye Tutorial: Direct Contact Dyeing
Experiments are one of my favorite things to do with fiber and natural dyes. It is always exciting to unveil something, and not have a clue what it will look like because it was all an experiment. It...
View ArticleNatural Dyeing Yellow with Weld
For me, the perfect time of year to indulge in natural dyeing is autumn. The days are shortening, and one’s thoughts seem to naturally incline to more creative and fiber-y pursuits. Having a wood cook...
View ArticleMordants: How to Safely Prepare a Mild Copper Mordant
Having talked a bit about mordanting in the past, I would like to focus in on a single mordant. Copper is one of the easiest mordants to create oneself, and while copper can be toxic in high...
View ArticleTop Five Safe and Fun Natural Dyes to use with Kids
Some of the most enjoyable times I have spent with natural dyes, was when I was teaching adults and families how to successfully use natural dyes. Many families have children of varying ages, and it...
View ArticleFive Techniques to Test Any Plant for Natural Dye Color
Almost any natural dye book will tell you what the common natural dye plants are, what colors you can get from them, and the method to employ to do so. However, no matter how well-tested a method you...
View ArticleSuccessful Fibre Art: Preparation is Half the Battle Part 3 Prep for Dyeing
This is the third part in the Preparation for Fibre Art series. Part one discussed the washing part of preparation, particularly for fleece, yarn, and fabric. Part two discussed card and combing...
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