Category: Plant Dye

10 Sep
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All Natural Plant Dye Processes

Amelia Hoskins / Dyes, Plant Dye / / 0 Comments

CREAM  -  GOLD  -  BLUE   on Ahimsa Silk

 

 

 

Most plant dyes produce cream or gold, dyed cold or hot.  They can be modified to turn darker and some modified to turn green. Mordants are used to soak silk in first.  Modifiers are used after dye.  Blue is only achieved with English Woad.

 

Dyed samples:     Logwood purple - Eucalyptus deep gold - Woad blue - Mullein light gold - Woad blue - Hawthorn gold beiges - Iron modified - Ladies Bedstraw orange

Flora Arbuthnot's Dye Workshop

My dye experiments were inspired by first workshop attended.  We foraged locally for leaves and bark. Flora taught us about mordants to soak fabric in prior to dyeing.  See samples on Post.

Flora Arbuthnot's Bundle Dye Workshop

Bundle dyeing by steam was a quick workshop at a garden festival. Petals and seeds were spread on cloth, sprayed with vinegar, folded in tightly wrapped bundles and suspended over steaming pot.  Excellent results for backgrounds, seen on this Post background.  See samples on Post.

26 Jun
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Hawthorn Berries Three Rivers Dyed Silk

Amelia Hoskins / Dye Plant Collection, Dyes, Plant Dye / / 0 Comments

Hawthorn Berries 1 - River Taw

Berries from Tarka Trail foraging trip along River Taw found by ditch and field growing through hazelnut and willow trees with briars and nettles.

Hawthorn (1) - Dye Bath Process

  • Soak berries for 2-3 days.
  • Boil then simmer for 1-2 hours.  Add water and re-simmer if evaporates.
  • Mash berries, remove pulp from dye pan.  Cool to hand hot.
  • Soak silk in dye bath pot overnight or for two days.
  • The longer soaked, the darker and stronger the colour.

Steeping in dye bath

Silk absorbs dye colour immediately, but some hours of soaking will deepen the tone.  Move silk occasionally to ensure all parts even

1st silk can be left in a bowl to dye stronger overnight, while keeping back some dye liquid to soak a 2nd piece, which will have a paler result.

Hawthorn Berries 2 - River Otter - Dye Process

Soak berries and simmer as Hawthorn (1).  Two silk samples were added to dye liquid when cooled and soaked in a wide copper pot for a day and a night. One was cream. The other was dull pale grey (failed woad dyed piece) which resulted in a browner result. (Colour mixing: grey + hawthorn = brown)

Comparisons - Rivers Taw - River Otter berries

Taw berries result is golden.  Otter berries result is dull fawn.  Unknown whether the different river soils affected the dye colour, or if the copper pot had an effect, which is likely.

Hawthorn Berries 3 - River Exe - Dye Process

Hawthorn Berries River Exe Sessions1,2,3,4 give 4 colour variations

Silk 1 - Lime green.   Silk 2 - Medium mauve.   Silk 3 - Silver.  Silk 4 - Pale peach

Fascinating variations obtained by use of mordants, or washing out methods, or how fresh or old/exhausted the dye bath becomes.

Exe Berries - Ahimsa Silk 1. Mauve turns Green

Large long piece of silk soaked a few hours in pre-mordanting Alum beforehand.

Good Mauve result.  Washed out in tap water, with added soap. Turned GREY, then gradually GREEN!  (Far left)

Was it the tap water?  Was it the soap?

Exe Berries - Ahimsa Silk 2.

Two dress top shapes. NO premordant alum.

Steeped 24hrs in remainder dye bath pink sludgy liquid.

Washed out in tap water - stayed a medium MAUVE. (presume due to no alum).

Exe Berries - Ahimsa Silk 3.

One long silk piece with a hem.

Placed in previous dye bath (1. and 2.)

Turned mauvish, but dried out SILVER! (Right)

Exe Berries - Ahimsa Silk 4.

Silk pre-mordanted with Alum and Cream of Tartar.

Cider vinegar from pre-soaked apple peels added to dye bath.

Placed liquid and fabric in copper pot.

Result overnight - pale peach.

11 Nov
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Silk dyed with Comfrey leaves

Amelia Hoskins / Dye Bath Processes, Plant Dye / / 0 Comments

16 Sep
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Alder tree cone dye

Amelia Hoskins / Dye Bath Processes, Plant Dye / / 0 Comments

15 Sep
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Walnut Husks Dyed Silk

Amelia Hoskins / Dye Bath Processes, Plant Dye / / 0 Comments

Walnut Husks Dye Process

  • Walnuts were soaked for several days before boiling up and simmering until liquid was dark brown.
  • Remove husks and decant liquid to bowl.
  • Add wet silk pieces
  • Agitate frequently then soak overnight
  • Silk takes up the brown dye bath quickly but keep turning and agitating occasionally while soaking. (I don't boil Ahimsa silk as it would roughen surface) Soaking is adequate for obtaining a reasonable colour.

There is a lot of pigment left in the dye bath which can be stored in jars or used for additional fabrics.  Fill to brim to avoid mould forming. It could also be used to add to creams and golds to strengthen.

Silk Samples of Gold Variations

Walnut dyed silk is the darkest gold, gold-brown/bronze colour so far obtained from seeds or plant dyes. Left samples on both images).

Walnut Tree

Walnuts were found on the ground where they had had been decaying under a walnut tree on Bossington Green, Porlock, North Somerset.

21 Aug
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Logwood Dyed Silk

Amelia Hoskins / Dye Bath Processes, Plant Dye / / 0 Comments

21 Aug
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Mullein Dyed Silk

Amelia Hoskins / Dye Bath Processes, Plant Dye / / 0 Comments

14 Aug
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St-Johns Wort Plant Collecting and Dye Bath

Amelia Hoskins / Dye Bath Processes, Dyes, Plant Dye / / 0 Comments

Foraging along the Tarka Trail

Yellow Flowers of St. John's Wort are found along grass verges. Many changed to orange seed buds, which helps identify them from other yellow flowers and which may be attributable to the golden colour result.

Collecting Dye Plants (St. Johns Wort in basket) along a decommissioned rail track Barnstaple to Bideford: my 10 mile foraging route using Jenny Dean's plant spotter book.   Late summer finds many of the traditional dye plants along grass verges.

St Johns Wort - Dye Bath Process

  • Soak flower tops and seed buds overnight in rain water. I use pond water.
  • Boil up and simmer for an hour. Press fibres with potato masher. Remove from vessel.
  • When cool enough not to roughen silk, add and soak silk, stirring occasionally.
  • Colour appears soon, but leave overnight to absorb dye colour fully.
  • First silk takes most dye pigment.

1st Woad Dye Session

2nd Woad Dye Session

  • Most pigment its taken up with 1st session, but there is always some left.  Remove 1st silk piece.
  • Add dyestuff again and heat and simmer dye bath for 15 mins.
  • When cooler than hand hot, add 2nd piece of silk and leave overnight, to absorb all dye pigment.
  • Second soak actually used up remainder of dye pigment leaving water clear, with paler silk result.

3rd Dye Session- Iron Modifier

Use remaining dye liquid to add iron (ferrous sulphate) for a greyer or greener result.  Colour mix is involved: cream dyes will turn pale grey, the stronger orangey St. John's Wort dye produced green-grey. Other dye baths may produce a pale grey/dull brown results.  Iron can be added by a little rusty water, made by soaking rusty nails in a jar. Small amount needed to tip the colour. Avoid using too much as iron can weaken silk fibres.

Hand Dyed Silk Samples

  • LEFT:     Rosemary - St. Johns Wort Light/St. Johns Wort strong gold - Comfrey Light - Comfrey Dark
  • RIGHT:  Top left St. Johns Wort gold, Green/St. Johns Wort iron modified contrasting with the other natural dye results.
22 May
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Bundle Dyeing Seeds and Flowers Workshop

Amelia Hoskins / Dye Workshop, Dyes, Plant Dye / / 0 Comments

Bundle dyed silk samples were created at Flora's Bundle Dye Workshop in Forde Abbey Gardens

Bundle Dyed Silk Samples

Silk and cottons are covered in seeds, petals and powdered roots; then sprayed with vinegar, then folded up into angular folds, before tying up into stringed bundles.  Bundles are hung over the side of a large boiling pot of water.

Bright pigment result from steaming seeds (such as Hopi sunflower), petals (such as dahlia) and dried root (such as madder or logwood).

Drying out unwrapped silk bundles

Authors Samples –  I chose mostly pink and lilac dyestuffs which I tried to arrange in circular patterns, but this process is completely unpredictable.  Next time it would be interesting to make dyestuff arrangements in circular tied bundles or with elastic, similar to tie dye techniques, form snowflake type designs.

22 May
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Flora’s Plant dye foraging workshop

Amelia Hoskins / Dye Workshop, Plant Dye / / 0 Comments

Plants and trees that we can use in dye baths, with and without mordants (which make colours stronger) easily dye cotton, linen and silk.

Just a simple collection and boiling of plant matter, then simmering with fabric steeped.

Very bright yellow, or ocre yellow achieved with Alder plant matter, leaves and twigs. A pre process mordant is soya milk which the centre linen was soaked in.  Its a little too bright for my taste so I would use without mordant.

The left lace is with nettle dyebath, a very subtle dark cream, with hint of yellow-green in reality.

Flora used same weight as fabric.

Left: Ahimsa silk, folded in triangles along folded strips, to create ‘resist’ non-dyed areas. Right: Habotai silk scrunched and rubber band tied, to create abstract, cosmic or marbled effect.

Either of these can be used as a background, to hand paint over with other colours; this is a technique I will explore in the future as preparation for silk painting designs.  Flora’s workshop used plant based mordants (colour intensifiers) but metallic mordants would produce different shades.

Stripes achieved by folding fabric and using rubber bands to keep tight, preventing dye penetrating fabric.

Ahimsa silk folded and clamped to resist dye penetration, results in pattern.

Cotton lace rolled and 2 rubber bands used to achieve resist un-dyed stripes.

Flora’s workshops can be booked at her website:

Images copyright Amelia Jane Hoskins Please email for use permission.