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Making Natural Dyes from Plants

Making Natural Dyes from Plants
Did you know that a great source for natural dyes can be found right in your own back yard! Roots, nuts and flowers are just a few common natural ways to get many colors. Yellow, orange, blue, red, green, brown and grey are available. Go ahead, experiment! Gathering plant material for dyeing: Blossoms should be in full bloom, berries ripe and nuts mature. Remember, never gather more than 2/3 of a stand of anything in the wild when gathering plant stuff for dying. To make the dye solution: Chop plant material into small pieces and place in a pot. Getting the fabric ready for the dye bath: You will have to soak the fabric in a color fixative before the dye process. Color Fixatives: Salt Fixative (for berry dyes) 1/2 cup salt to 8 cups cold water Plant Fixatives (for plant dyes) 4 parts cold water to 1 part vinegar Add fabric to the fixative and simmer for an hour. Dye Bath: Place wet fabric in dye bath. NOTE: It’s best to use an old large pot as your dye vessel. Shades of ORANGE Shades of PINK

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Echoes of a Dream: Natural dyeing. A beginners guide.............. Gulp....A number of people have asked me questions about this dyeing lark and I thought maybe I ought to do a post (another one I hear you mutter) in a tutorial sort of way. I hesitate because I'm no expert but just a mad woman who got hooked over the summer. So what I would like to do is share some of the knowldge I've accumulated, the suppliers I've used (sorry no web link to Mother Nature yet) and to tell you about the colours I got.

An Introduction to Natural Dyeing   Choosing Your Plants Begin by looking at what you already have in your own backyard or outdoor space. Any plant you have a lot of will most likely produce some color in the dyepot. Generally, the more plant material you have, the more you can add to the pot, and the more concentrated your dye will be. You can use just one type of plant in the dyepot or a mix. I feel melty. EDIT 11/5/2012: We are no longer selling custom crayon pieces in our Etsy shop. We are now focusing on a new jewelry project, so please check that out and we hope you enjoy the tutorial below! Edit: We are now selling custom crayon pieces in our Etsy shop! If you have questions about commissioning your own artwork, please see the shop or email us at lightandspoon@gmail.com.

Natural Dye Mordant; Fiber and Yarn Preparation for Natural Dye These natural dye mordant and wash instructions are focused on wools and silk since they dye the best with natural dyes. If dyeing cellulose fibers, please pay close attention to additional notes. For more information on natural dye mordants please see this mordant page Important note: Weigh the amount of yarn or fiber you plan to dye before making it wet.

The Leaf Guide: 25 Plants for Eco-printing on Cotton – Gumnut Magic This ebook covers 25 plants which eco-print well on cotton. There is information about identifying and preparing each plant, with photographs of the leaves themselves and the types of prints they produce. There is also a discussion about plant pigments, and the differences in using fresh, soaked or dry leaves to dye with. At the end are some examples of clothing and fabric dyed with different combinations of leaves, to inspire you in your own compositions. You can view some sample photographs here.

Dry erase board out of a picture frame 133.2K Flares Twitter 7 Facebook 69 Pin It Share 3.9K 3K+ StumbleUpon 129.2K Filament.io Made with Flare More Info 133.2K Flares × I purchased a few cheap 12×16 picture frames from Wal-mart for $3.00 a piece and brought them home, cut out scrapbook paper and attached it to the inside of the frame. I used double sided tape to stick the 12×12 sheets together then just cut off the remaining amount of paper before I attached it to the inside of the frame. I have seen these all over lately and decided to make a few. Natural Dyeing Report « Red 2 White When I was about to buy my first batch of wool for feltmaking sometimes in March I went for the white one for two reasons: it was cheaper and I couldn’t decide which one of the coloured ones to buy, all the colour are very nice - but which one will I really need? And then I thought I could learn how to dye the wool anyway. Then I went to our local bookshop and found this book. The pictures in the book are beautiful and I think that’s the reason why I have decided to use natural dyes.

From Your Kitchen to Your Studio: At Home Botanical Dyes Our first natural dye tutorial focused on extracting cochineal dye purchased from a supplier. Whether you’re new to naturally dyeing handmade paper or looking to expand your color range, potential dyestuff might live closer than you think—you can extract dyes from items found in your kitchen. Keep reading to learn about more ways to experiment with natural dyes and handmade paper!

How to Make a Three-Dimensional Wall Hanging Ready to craft? This project is so easy, anyone can do it. Before you start making excuses, let me tell you, I’d never painted before. Never used acrylics or done art on canvas. I can hardly even draw a straight line. Now that your excuses are gone, pick your colors and your theme and let’s get started! Dyeing « Frog in the pond Colours from our backyard September 22, 2010 at 11:55 am (Dyeing, textiles) These are the results of my eucalyptus and brown onion skin dyeing. Scarf Dyeing with Natural Plant Materials – mulberrypatchquilts I love the process of dyeing fabrics, and have been dyeing cotton fabrics for years using Procion Dye. So a couple years ago when some beautiful scarves caught my eye at a gift shop and I found out that they were made using natural plant materials, I knew I had to find out more. I immediately searched for a class, and found one at Ohlbrich Gardens here in Madison taught by the talented and informative Shelly Ryan (The Wisconsin Gardener from PBS)–see this link for an even better tutorial! If you get the chance, sign up for a class with her–she’s an amazing person! We made several scarves that day.

DIY storybook paper roses DIY storybook paper roses You’re going to love today’s DIY project so much that you’re going to want to start tearing pages out from old books tonight! Remember the storybook roses in Shanna + Richard’s wedding? Sweet, right? Floral designer, Cathy Brim of Bloom Floral Design created the elegant branch bouquets seen in their ceremony using Valerie Lloyd’s paper roses design, and now we’re jumping-out-of-the-pages excited that Valerie is sharing her DIY secrets with you! yellow « backyard dyer Hibiscus Rose Mallow (Hibiscus spp.) on Wool, scoured but no pre-mordant or pre-Alum. Far left, Hibiscus with a pinch of copper after-bath. Middle, dried Hibiscus flowers mashed (in the dye pot while simmering, before adding the wool) to yield a darker color.

How to Make Dye from Acorns - FiberArtsy.com Learn how to make a Natural Dye made from Acorns for Cotton Fabric In the past year or so, I shared my natural dyeing experiments with black walnuts, dandelions and black beans. Continuing this series, I wanted to show you how to dye cotton fabric towels using Acorns. Last Fall, my hubby and I spent our anniversary weekend camping and hiking at a beautiful state park in Indiana. While tackling a 7 mile hike one day, I found myself in the middle of a bunch of huge oak trees.

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