Introduction to natural dyeing. Derived from full presentation given at day-schools

1. Natural Dyes
~~~~~~~
from field,
hedgerow and
garden
by Jenny Oliver

2. Dyes from trees and
shrubs
Barks - eg Fruit trees, Oak, Birch
Leaves - eg Juniper, Eucalyptus
Flowers - eg Hawthorn (May)
Fruits - eg Walnut husks, damsons, sloes,
Products of parasitism: oak galls

3. Dyes from smaller
plants
Flowers - eg Safflower
Leaves & Stems - eg Woad
Roots - eg Madder
Fungi and Lichens - eg Cudbear and Crottle /
Crotal

4. Natural dyes from ‘non-
vegetable’ sources
(and non-UK)
Insects - Cochineal, Kermes (unavailable
except as museum samples), Lac
Molluscs - Tyrian Purple, Dye Whelk
Minerals - Copper, Iron, Lead, Mercury &
Cadmium

5. Wild, or ‘Weeds’
Achillea millefolium - Millefoil, Yarrow
Calluna vulgaris - Common Heather
Daucus carota - Wild carrot
Equisetum spp. - Horsetail
Gallium verum - LADY’S BEDSTRAW: related to
Madder of Mediaeval fame
Hedera helix - Ivy

6. Wild, or ‘Weeds’
continued
Hypericum perforatum - St John’s Wort
Pteridum aquilinum - Bracken
Rumex spp - Dock (and others)
Symphytum spp - Comfrey
Taraxacum officinale - Dandelion
Urtica dioica - Nettle
Verbascum thapsus - Great Mullein
Verbascum at Smarden, normally a single
flower spike, but rabbit-nibbling produced this

7. Fungi & Lichens
‘Mushroom dyes’ - wide variety
Lichen dyes - Parmelia spp. (crottles/crotals),
Xanthoria parietina (Yellow wall lichen), Evernia spp
(eg ‘oakmoss’ or Stag’shorn Lichen), Ochrolechia
tartarea (= ‘Cudbear’) and more. Very ancient
methods.

8. ‘Salvaged dyes’
Onion skins (yellow & red)
Tea (old teabags, or stale leaf tea)
Carrot tops
Avocado pits and peels
Old logs (inner bark)
Lichen from fallen twigs

9. Processes
“Dyer’s stuff” and dyestuffs

10. Processes: summary
Clean your fibre: ‘Scouring’
Mordant your fibre, if necessary
Extract dye from source
Dye your fibre
‘Dry in’ then rinse/wash to remove excess
dye.

11. Processes - scouring
Successful scouring of cotton should leave the water looking like this. It has a
characteristic odour, too, which cannot (yet) be conveyed by a computer presentation.

12. Processes - scouring
Badly cleaned
Unprepared fibre,
Clean fibre
fibre
grease, gums and
dirt

13. Processes - mordanting
Mordant rule of thumb:
Mineral mordant for animal fibres
Vegetable mordant for vegetable fibres
(often followed by mineral)
Eco-friendliest minerals: alum, and some
iron salts eg from rusty nails and vinegar
Vegetable mordant - tannins: from sumac
leaves, oak galls, and even stale tea

14. Processes - mordanting
But - will not Will accept mordant
Clean fibre accept dye compounds, which
compounds welcome the dyes

15. Processes - Dyeing
Methods: Dye ‘in the wool’, in the skein, or
piece goods.
Boil, simmer, steep over night, steep for days
- or weeks.... or just ‘dip’.
Leave ‘as is’ or modify.

16. Selected Literature & Links
Wild Color - Jenny Dean (now out of
print)
The Art and Craft of Natural Dyeing -
J.N. Liles
A Dyer’s Garden - Rita Buchanan
Plants for a Future - www.pfaf.org
The Natural Dyers Yahoo discussion
group: groups.yahoo.com/group/
NaturalDyes/
Images courtesy of www.amazon.co.uk

17. Dye courses: at the Bushcraft Meet
2-4 May 2009
Concentrating on wild
dyestuffs, part of the Bushcraft
weekend
see http://www.bushcraft-magazine.co.uk/
at the Dering Arms, Kent
Dates to be confirmed
One-Day Workshop with Lunch
The Dering Arms,
Pluckley, Kent

18. Thank you for
viewing!