Colours with Kalyani - part 4

The possibilities are endless, as Nature has provided a bounty of beautiful colours for you. The only limit is your imagination!

Natural dyeing starts with finding the materials to make your own dye bath.

Lichen, turmeric, and pomegranate will give you yellows through to oranges.

    

Vegetable gardens can be a wealth of colours for your natural dyes.  Raspberries, beetroot, carrots, strawberries, fennel and onions – to name but a few – all produce wonderfully coloured dyes.

The forest is awash with colour!

Oak galls will produce wonderful shades of grey and black. Acorns and dandelion roots will produce simply lovely brown dyes – like you have never seen before.

Ivy and St John’s wart are just another two among all the other wild herbs, weeds and even humble grasses worth watching out for.

There are a multitude of naturally dyed yarns, roving’s and fabrics out there and sometimes it is hard to imagine where the natural colour may have come from!

But nature is an amazing thing and with a little chemistry you have a unlimited array of natural colours to choose from,
The range of plants, minerals and vegetables from which you can extract colour and produce natural dyes is endless. And the colours could range from the soft delicate pastels to the very rich colours. You would be happy and so would your yarn.
As with everything in life, some work better than others and produce stronger and longer lasting colours.
Experimenting with whatever you have on hand is recommended and is half the fun of producing dyes. You never know what you will discover!
Some substances will give different coloured dyes, depending on what mordant you use or how long they are processed for. For example logwood mordanted with alum produces a mauve colour, yet when mordanted with chrome gives a lovely blue. Many yellow dye baths will give a greenish hue if used with an Alum mordant, but using chrome or tin will brighten them to a much clearer yellow. Using iron will produce a golden hue of yellow to brown.

Reds: When making red dyes be sure to slowly raise the temperature of the dye vat. Reds have a tendency to go brown when too much heat is applied. The maximum temperature for red dyes is 180c. Never boil!

Cochineal- insects Lac – insects Hibiscus – flowers Madder- roots Red Elderberry – berries Sumac – berries Beetroot – root vegetable Brazilwood – wood St John’s Wort – whole plant Sycamore – bark Cadmium – mineral Avacados- fruit

 

Reddish purples: Who can resist the deep, natural colour of purple? Purple used to be the colour of Kings and Queens during medieval times

Red Basil – whole plant Dark red Hibiscus - flowers Daylillies – flowers past their prime Vermillon – mineral Lac – insect

Yellows: Our everyday ingredient the turmeric gives us such lovely shades of yellow.

Bayleaves – leaves Saffron – stamens Marigold – flowers Queen Annes Lace – flowers St John’s Wort – plant Golden Rod – flowers Turmeric – roots or powder Osage Orange- bark or shavings Tea – leaves Brown Onion – skins Larkspur – plant Chromium – mineral

Oranges: One of the simplest materials you can extract the colour from naturally, is the humble brown onion. Do not under-estimate the rich and varied shades that this everyday vegetable can impart to your clothing!

Brown onion- skins Turmeric – roots Giant Coreopsis – any part of the plant Bloodroot- roots Barberry – any part of the plant Eucalyptus – leaves

Browns: If you haven’t experienced the colour of natural coffee, then you don’t know what you are missing! The richness and complexity is simply warming to the heart. Just like a good cup of filter coffee.

Oak Bark – bark Walnut- Hulls Dandelion- roots Coffee – grinds Yellow dock – plant Ivy – woody stems Golden rod- shoots Tea- leaves Sumac- leaves, powder Birch- bark Brown Clay – clay soil Limonite – clay Octopus/cuttlefish – ink

Blues to Bluish purples: The humble mulberry can produce the most sublime shade of purple you can imagine!

Dogwood – fruit Hyacinth – flowers Indigo – foliage Red Maple Tree – inner bark Woad- leaves Mulberries – fruit Elderberries – fruit Blueberries – fruit Cornflower – flowers Blackbeans – dried bean Cobalt – mineral Copper – mineral Murex Snail – trunculus

 

Greens: Once again, sometimes the best sources of a particular colour come from exactly where you wouldn’t expect them to! Something with such a striking ocher red as sumac actually produces a wonderful green coloured dye!

Tea Tree – flowers Spinach – leaves Larkspur – plant Red Onion – skins Yarrow – flowers Chamomile – leaves Black-eyed Susans – flowers Nettle – leaves Dyer’s Broom – plant Chromium – mineral

 

Grey to Black: And lastly, don’t neglect the often overlooked shades of grey and black.

Oak Galls – Galls Sumac – leaves Walnut – hulls Iris – roots Black Beans – dried bean Titanium – mineral Carbon – mineral