Saturday, July 9, 2011

Natural Dyes, Part I

This past week, I took a drive from Roanoke to Meadows of Dan on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  The wildflowers were gorgeous and I could not resist taking some photos.  Not only did I want to share these photos with you, but I also wanted to show you what beautiful natural dyes could be made from these plants. I began using natural dyes about 22 years ago.

Coreopsis--one of my favorite dyeplants.....
...and you can see why! From the beautiful old gold color
on the left to the rusty orange on the right.


Sometimes, dye plant experiments produce less than wonderful results......



See the pale, cream-colored sample in the middle?
That was the dye produced by this gorgeous Wild Indigo Plant.
A pretty plant to look at, but a horrible dye!


...but for every failure, there are many more successes!


Mullein Plant
Everything from the cream color on the left to the dark green
color on the right were all produced from mullein.


The pretty olive green in this piece was dyed with mullein



Daisy Fleabane (another favorite!)


The brilliant yellow in this shawl was dyed with daisy fleabane



Here is a sneak peek from the next post about natural dyes!

3 comments:

  1. I LOVE dyeing with natural dyes...though the colors aren't brilliant...they are SO beautiful!

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  2. Natural dye colors all blend together so nicely. I do believe that it would be impossible to put two naturally dyed colors together that DO clash!

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  3. I don't know anything about dyes-so I am shocked that you can get those vibrant colors from natural fauna! Just wow : )

    I loved the post below about your Dad-and going back to childhood places and memories too.

    tipper

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