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Making Natural Dyes From
Plants |
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Readers Tips Page 1 |
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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!
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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. |
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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.
- S. HOFFMAN |
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Any color of fall leaves will
yield the color of the leaves or a color close to the color of
the leaves. For example hickory leaves gives a good yellow if
plenty of leaves are boiled and salt added. Red leaves will give
a reddish brown color I use salt to set the dye. I use this in
my Cherokee Baskets. Bloodroot will give a good orange to reddish
orange color. It grows on branches and creeks here in Easter
Oklahoma. It is a traditional dye used by the Cherokee to dye
with. Oak bark will give a tan or oak color. - B.FORD |
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Mullen, leaf and root, makes a
nice shade of pale yellow. I've heard that adding dilute sulfuric
acid makes it green, though I've not tried it. Also, be careful,
because the little fuzzy hairs can make one itchy! - PIXIEPHREAK |
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Wild plum root will give a reddish
or rusty brown. - B.FORD |
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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!
- S. REINHART |
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Hi, My partner and I added
a new fragrance to our soap line and wanted a peachy color to
complement it. For a 36 bar batch we used about 4 pinches of
achiote powder (annatto seed) and were pleased with the color.
It has minute flecks of a dark red in it also. We use only additives
that are non-toxic and edible. Hope this helps.
- R. JOHNSON, SEA BREEZE SOAP,
LOS FRESNOS. TX |
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You can add daffodil flower heads
(after they have died). They make a lovely shade of gold/yellow.
We used alum as a mordant. -
JOY |
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Blackberry season is nearly upon
us at harvest time so go picking and make beautiful strong purple
dyes! - EMMA, WEST SUSEX |
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Hi, what about dandelion flower
for yellow. - NANCY |
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I just thought you might want
to know that onion peels make a great orange or yellow mattering
on how long you leave it in the dye bath and whether you are
using cotton or wool. I usually dye gray wools so I am usually
just looking for a tint and not looking for a super bright color.
- LIBBY H |
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For a pale yellow the wood and
inner bark of Bois d'arc or hedgeapple. (Maclura pomifera) - R. BRODSKY, FT WORTH, TEXAS |
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Onion skins and lichen makes a
gorgeous gold colour. -
GEM STONE |
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The inner bark of the Red Maple
tree when combined with an iron mordant yields shades of Purple.
Shavings or sawdust from the
heartwood of the Osage Orange tree yields shades of yellow.
These were done on wool. I'm
not sure how they would react with other fibers.
- BY BJ |
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When preparing acorns, the byproduct
of making them edible can be used as a natural dye. I cracked
open the acorns with a large stone. To make the nutmeats edible
you boil them in hot water and strain, then boil again with new
water, until the water runs clear. When boiling them the water
will turn brown (natural tannins boiling away from the acorns.)
This brown liquid (natural tannic acid solution) can be used
with a vinegar-based fixative for a very dark brown color to
cloth. The brown color was thrown away on my first try. As I
said, it is a byproduct of boiling hulled acorns, for eating.
Thought this might be useful to you. - BY M. LANGENFELD |
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Goldenrod makes a beautiful yellow.
The color ranges from a deep golden to pale yellow depending
on how much goldenrod you use and how well the material takes
the dye. Also, elderberries make a lovely deep lavender color!
These both are colorfast and will not fade. - BY
K. BRATCHER |
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Two new dyes
for your "Yellow" list:
(1) Red Clover
(whole blossom, leaves and stem); alum mordant; Gold.
(2) Yellow
cone flower (whole flower head); chrome mordant; Brass to Greeney-Brass.
One new dye
for your "Peach" list:
(1) Virginia
Creeper (all parts); alum mordant; Peach.
- BY RICHARD
H. |
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Grass makes a
nice shade of green. Just boil it in water, remove grass and
use the remaining as dye. - BY D.BOYLE |
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Don't forget tea.
Any style of tea bag you can buy from the store or homemade tea
if you live in an area where growing that is possible makes a
very light nice brown. - BY DERRICK |
- Madder, weld,
and Japanese indigo are the three very best natural dyes for
temperate areas. Madder makes shades of red, weld yields a bright
yellow, and Japanese indigo gives deep blues. They are all quite
colorfast. - BY
CAITLIN
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- Red Cedar
root = Purple dye (Alum mordant.) Cameleon plant gives you a
beautiful golden color (Alum mordant.) - BY LANEKNIT
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