Natural Dyes
In the garden we are dedicating a small
patch for plants that are ideal for dyeing fabric. We’ve picked out just some
of many plants that we can grow on the farm and may be even try them out for
dyeing later on in the year.
This is the first of our collection;
this is Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius).
This little seedling will soon become a
large annual that will give us red and yellow dyes.
All grown up...
This plant goes as far back as the
ancient Egyptians where even Tutankhamun had safflower garlands round his neck
in his tomb. The plant can be used for dye and most commonly for vegetable oil
used across the world.
Other
natural dye plants;
Yarrow (Achillea
millefolium)– Yellow and Browns
Woad (Isatis tinctoria) – True blues
Madder (Rubia tintorum) – Intense
oranges, scarlet and plum
Hollyhocks – Yellow, Mahogany, Green,
Reds and Blues
Indigo (Indigofera
tinctoria) – Indigo blue.
Indigo is probably one of the best known natural dye so we will try and
get some for our dye bed.
This lovely green/blue is made from Hollyhocks...
Have you got any ideas?
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