Readers' Dye Tips

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You have a really interesting list of plant dyes. Some dyes you may want to add:

Syrian rue is a great yellow dye, and actually glows under a black light!

Roses and lavender, with a little mint and some lemon juice to activate the alkaloids can make both a brilliant pink dye and a very tasty pink lemonade.

Turmeric and cumin will permanently color anything bright yellow with only a little acidic fixative. Saffron will do the same to a lesser amount.

Mulberries provide a royal purple color.

Artemisia species provide a range of greens from baby's breath to nettle green.

Sumac fruit provide a light red (but not pink). However, these are already acidic, so their use may require a stronger acid than most or simply be ready to use straight off the plant.

Osage orange is hedgeapple/boit d'arc

Paint:
Ocherous red clay (i.e. dirt) can be used to make a nice red-orange color. I don't know how well it binds to cloth, but it can be mixed with egg yolk to make great paint. (egg tempera technique)

Malachite and turquoise can be ground up and used the same way to make similar paints, but green and turquoise colored, respectively.

Just some stuff I've seen around. I have used all but the sumac, and they all work wonderfully.

Do you know about Cochineal? It's not a plant but it grows on a plant. The little white fuzzy bugs that look like mealy bugs that are found on the "pads" of Prickly pear cactus (Opuntia sp.) They are an infestation to the plant so it helps the plant if you scrape them off.

Scrape them off the pads with a pocket knife into a plastic bag -- its OK if you squish them. At home spread them on a cookie sheet and toast for about 10 minutes in the oven, till they dry up. Now you can store them or use them right away.

Make the dye bath as you describe on your web page. Use alum for mordant. On wool these will give you an intense bright red (or pink if you have used too much water. Other mordants give different colors. This was the red dye used in the blankets that were produced by the indians in the
California Missions. The plant became widespread in California because it was cultivated to produce this dye material. The color is safe, it has also been used as a food coloring.

Do you know about barberry (mahonia sp.) -- it makes a wonderful yellow orange (with alum) very strong and permanent. It too was grown at the missions for this purposed. Any part of the plant will work.

Giant Coreopsis (Coreopsis gigantea -- a threatened species endemic to the islands off the coast of Santa Barbara California) Yields bright permanent orange with alum. Any part of the plant will work. The color of spaghetti sauce. (I got some of this when our local botanic garden was pruning their specimens.) I'm going to be trying this with the garden variety soon as I have heard this also works.

I know there are some mushrooms that yield nice blues. I'd like to know more about that.

Thanks for your website!

Readers Tips For Dyes: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]

If you know of any other plants that should be added to this list, please contact us with the plant name and color dye it would make. Thanks!

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