Red rose petals are an organic way to create dusty pink and blush hues for your textile and craft projects. No roses in your garden, no problem! Recycling & repurposing a bouquet with roses is an amazing way to enjoy the beauty of flowers long after they have faded. This tutorial will show you how to brew color from wilting red roses, as well as how to dye paper & the resulting color swatch samples (wet strength tissue paper) with various pre-mordants.
Immersion-Dyed Roses
Faded rose petals are the perfect flower to create reds & pinks with an immersion dyeing technique for your textiles. Recycling & repurposing a bouquet of roses, or straight from your summer garden, is an amazing way to enjoy the beauty of flowers long after they have faded. This tutorial will show you how to immersion dye with rose petals on cotton using white vinegar & iron water to modify the colors.
Steam-Dyed Tulips
Tulip petals are a wonderful flower to create reds & pinks with a steam dyeing technique for your textiles, aka eco-dyeing. Recycling & repurposing a bouquet of tulips, or straight from your spring garden, is an amazing way to enjoy the beauty of flowers long after they have faded. This tutorial will show you how to steam dye with tulip petals on silk using white vinegar & iron water to modify the colors.
Dahlia Dye
Dahlia flowers are a natural way to create golden yellow hues for your textile and craft projects. If it's not the season for dahlias, no problem! Recycling & repurposing a bouquet with dahlias is an amazing way to enjoy the beauty of flowers long after they have faded. You could say it's twice as nice! This tutorial will show you how to brew dyes from wilting dahlia flowers, as well as the resulting color swatch samples (cotton & silk) with various pre-mordants.
Blue Spruce Dye
Do you have blue spruce in your neighborhood? If so, grab yourself a few boughs and chop them up in your dye pot! By adding iron water to your brew, you can coax out the bluish tint from this evergreen to create gorgeous cool grays. This tutorial will show you how to identify & brew dye from a blue spruce, shift color with iron water and the resulting color swatch samples (cotton, bamboo & silk) with various mordants.
Pine & Spruce Branch Dye
Picking up downed evergreen branches of pine & spruce trees not only cleans up your yard, but can be repurposed into some beautiful colors in your dye pot. The natural tannin in the branches will give you a beige color on textile, but with the addition of all-in-one mordant of alum & iron water, you can achieve olive greens and rich browns as well. This tutorial will show you how to brew dye from foraged pine & spruce branches and expand your palette with an all-in-one mordant technique, plus the resulting color swatch samples (cotton & silk).
Birch Bark Dye
Join me on a foraging trip (Part 2) in the beautiful mountains of Central Idaho to search for color from birch trees. Learn to identify and differentiate birch from aspen and how to ethically collect birch bark for your dye pot. The natural tannins in bark bond wonderfully with textile and create a range of beige and tan colors. After exploring the landscape of the Big Wood River in search of birch, this tutorial will show you how to brew dye with the resulting color swatch samples (cotton & silk) with various mordants. As an added bonus, you will learn how to create an all-in-one mordant within the dye itself to expand your color palette.
Pine & Spruce Cone Dye
Join me on a foraging trip (Part 1) in the beautiful mountains of Central Idaho to search for color from conifer trees. Learn to identify pine and spruce cones and how to ethically collect them for your dye pot. The tannins in cones bond wonderfully with textile and create a range of beige colors with orange and pink hues. After exploring the landscape of the Sawtooth and Boulder mountains in search of cones, this tutorial will show you how to brew dye with the resulting color swatch samples (cotton & silk) with various mordants.
Noble Fir Dye
If you love having fresh evergreen in your home for holiday decorations, keep that aroma brewing by recycling the boughs in your dye pot - needles and all! The natural tannin in the branches will give you a beige color on textile, but with an iron water shift, you can achieve deep grays as well. This tutorial will show you how to brew dye from a noble fir Christmas tree and shift color with iron water, plus the resulting color swatch samples (cotton, bamboo, linen & silk) with various mordants.
Cranberry Dye
Cranberries are a seasonal fruit that are delicious in sauce, drinks AND your dye pot! Simply simmering these vibrant berries will create a gorgeous pink color to use in your textile projects at the holidays and beyond. This tutorial will show you how to brew dye from cranberries with the resulting color swatch samples (cotton & silk) with various mordants.
Pomegranate Skin Dye & Mordant
Pomegranate seeds are a holiday treat, but don't throw away those skins! The peel is full of tannin and is a great way to pretreat your textiles, especially plant (cellulose) fibers like cotton, linen, bamboo and hemp, to create stronger color bonds with natural dyes. The 'mordant' process is an extra, but important, step to help organic color last longer and protect it from fading with exposure to light and wash. The process is as easy as simmering a pot of a water and soaking your textile for an hour. And, if you love yellow, pomegranate skins make a rich golden dye with a longer soak and some extra peels. This video tutorial will show you how to tannin mordant cellulose fibers with the skins, as well as create a long-lasting yellow color for your textiles.
Black Walnut Dye
If you are lucky enough to have a black walnut tree in your midst, you can add rich browns to your dye pot in autumn. After the hulls fall from the tree, forage them while green, or even collect them after they turn black, to create a tannin rich dye to use for coloring or a mordant. You can even make extremely dark hues with iron water that are as close to black as you will get in the natural dye world. This tutorial will show you how to brew dye from black walnut hulls on the stove, as well as a cold 'sun' tea dye from the shells. You will see the resulting color swatch samples (cotton & silk) with various mordants and the impact of shifting the color with an iron water bath.
Alum Mordant
Alum is an easy way to pretreat your textiles to create stronger color bonds with natural dyes. The 'mordant' process is an extra, but important, step to help organic color last longer and protect it from fading with exposure to light and wash. Typically found in your grocery spice aisle, alum is a mineral most often used by natural dyers on its own or in combination with other mordants such as tannin. The process is as easy as simmering a pot of a water and soaking your textile for an hour. This video tutorial will show you how to make an alum bath, as well as the use of cream of tartar for protein fibers.
Japanese Maple Leaf
Raking leaves in autumn is a perfect way to forage natural color right in your back yard. Japanese maple leaves create a pink/mauve dye for your textile and craft projects by simply chopping them up and throwing them in a pot of simmering water. Rich in tannin, the dye forms a strong bond with the textile that is long lasting and safe from light and water. This tutorial will show you how to forage and brew dye from Japanese maple leaves, as well as deepen the color with an iron water bath. You will see the resulting color swatch samples (cotton & silk) with various mordants.
Iron Water
Iron is a great way to shift your naturally dyed fiber to darker shades quickly and easily. Make your own homemade iron water with 3 simple ingredients: rusty nails, white vinegar and water. After a few weeks, your iron water is ready to go! You only need a splash, so store it away to use any time you are looking for darker shades including gray and black. This video tutorial will show you how to make and use iron water, as well as the resulting color swatch samples of 6 different natural dyes on cotton.
Cold pH Shift
You've seen how to shift the color of red cabbage in your dye pot from purple to pink & green, but did you know you can cold shift too? Grab red cabbage dye you already have stored and play around with the pH to see what different colors you can make. Temperature can also play a factor in the colors you achieve with natural dye. This video tutorial will show you how to quickly color shift your red cabbage dye with vinegar, lemon juice and baking soda, as well as the resulting color swatch samples (silk).
pH Shift
Red cabbage makes a gorgeous purple natural dye, but did you know it is also a color shifter? By changing the pH of the water with simple ingredients in your kitchen, red cabbage dye can turn to luscious pinks and vibrant greens. This tutorial will show you how to brew 4 different colors from red cabbage, as well as the resulting color swatch samples (cotton & silk) of all four dyes.
Red Cabbage
Red cabbage is a natural way to create purple dye for your textile and craft projects by simply chopping it up and throwing it in a pot of simmering water. The leftover 'soup' will be a vibrant dye that colors your fiber shades of lilac and lavender to deeper violet tones depending on your textile. This tutorial will show you how to brew dye from red cabbage, as well as the resulting color swatch samples (cotton & silk) with various mordants.
Black Bean
Black beans are a natural way to create blue dye for your textile and craft projects by using a cold process. Are you soaking black beans for a pot of soup? Fantastic - just let them soak an extra day and the thick leftover water can be saved for a blue that can have hints of green, purple and gray. This tutorial will show you how to create a 'cold brew' for a lovely blue dye, as well as the resulting color swatch samples (cotton & silk) with various mordants.
Citrus Peel
Citrus peel is a natural way to create yellow dye for your textile and craft projects by using your kitchen waste. Using citrus to add zest to your cooking or for a quick snack? If so, start collecting the skins to throw in your dye pot instead of your trash bin! Any citrus will work: grapefruit, orange, mandarin, lemon, etc. This tutorial will show you how to brew dye from the peels, as well as the resulting color swatch samples (cotton & silk) with various mordants.