Readers' Dye Tips

page 10

I noticed that you didn't have:

Jewelweed. It makes a lovely orange/peach color.

Peppermint makes a dark kakhi green color.

Queen Anne's Lace give a pale green

Black-Eyed Susans give a bright olive (apple?) green

Hope this helps your list.

Hi, I read your list and I'm surprised and disappointed that Walnut isn't on your list. Walnut husks (NOT the nut) when chopped up make a very potent stain--and it's already color fast--no salt or vinegar needed. I chop up some walnut husks, both green ones, but also parasitized ones that are blackened, and throw them in the blender, adding some water so that they actually blend and the dye is made! It is not necessary to heat, just dip your cloth into this black gunk. I quick dip in the cold gunk leaves a dark green color. Simmering the cloth makes a dark brown to almost black.

Rinse the clothes off outside with a hose, as it will dye everything it touches! Wash them once all together to get any excess dye off.

Walnut husks are a powerful, easily gathered (in the fall), versatile and potent dye.

Beluga Black Lentils .... soaked in water overnight .. yield a dark purplish / black water ... that I let sit outside in the southern California sun for a day or two ... and then I paint with it on cotton ... and the color is washfast and lightfast and needs NO MORDANT ... and it lasts - a beautiful milk chocolate brown (when super thick) ... to a lighter medium brown - or light brown when watered down ....

"Timeless Seeds" out of Montana grows these Beluga Black Lentils, which I buy at my local Whole Foods market .... They are a great starting point for playing with edible / safe material to create LASTING COLOR on shirts ... and clothing.

Also, I boiled some Pine Tree Bark ... and put the water in my spritz bottle ... sprayed around a dolphin stencil on my white cotton shirt ... and voila ... the dye has stayed ... a second nice light-medium brown dye that needs NO MORDANT !

So happy to make colors - TOTALLY HEALTH-ILY .... and have them stay on shirts ....

Also, a recent trip to Sedona, Arizona brought me face to face with the coolest ORANGE DIRT dyed shirts ... so I brought a bucket of dark orange-red earth home to LA with me ... added some purified water .... "painted" through a silk screen onto some white cotton shirts ... and the "paint" seems to be staying .... through two washes with detergent so far ... I have a hopeful PLEASE PLEASE feeling that the colors will last ... as I believe the iron that gives the clay it's color.... will remain wash fast and light fast for the most part !

I'm off to find more .... my mission is to find colors that I can use to paint on cotton ... colors which need NO MORDANT ... or at least NO METAL MORDANT ... I will use lemon juice, vinegar, salt ... stewed leaves ... or other "edible" / "organic" elements to mordant the colors .. but I don't want to use alum or mordants ....

This is my fun, my mission ....

I just wanted to share to yall the happy findings I've come up into so far !

If anything is ringing a bell right now - feel free to share ... Thanks !

Aloha ...lots of love

Hi there, Thanks for a wonderful website!

Might I suggest using the flowers of Portulaca as dyes? I've found that the flowers, dried and crushed to a powder, and used with a vinegar or salt mordant, can produce strong magentas, reds, scarlets, oranges and
yellows (depending upon the color of the flower) on wool, and less strong colors on cotton. They are not as lightfast as I'd like, but wonderful to work with.

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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