Natural Dye Day

(Dye materials - marigolds, dahlias, eucalyptus, cosmos, black-eyed susan, madder, osage orange, logwood, cochineal)

Now that my breeds book is done it's on to the dye book for the Masters Spinning Program. I hoped to get the dye work done in the fall but it didn't happen. So there were many trips out to the garage today to check the dye pots. Not the best way to keep warm in the deep freeze we've been having. But it's underway and to get the work done I'll be working on it all week. Last week I made about eight dye baths to get ready for some marathon dying.

Dahlias from my garden

Madder Root

Black-Eyed Susans from my garden

Eucalyptus from my garden

Marigolds from the garden and just finishing up in the dye pot.

Draining the marigolds and waiting for a few more dye baths to finish.

I love the whole concept of natural dyeing. Growing the plants or collecting them from the fields is a great holistic approach to using what the earth provides. It's funny, the burdock and nettle that we thought were nuisance weeds while growing up on a farm are now treasures for the dye pot. I think what intrigues me the most about natural dyeing is the unknown color shade that you get from the dye material. The level of dye extracted from the plants depends on so many factors (hmmm....sort of like a metaphor for life).