The highs and lows of natural dyeing

Every now and then I do some dyeing of fabrics and threads with flowers, leaves or fruits I have gathered. I love that you end up with a selection of similar shades as each fabric and thread takes the dye in a different way. All natural colours look happy together.

Last autumn my husband was happily collecting and eating freshly picked walnuts, when I realised the outer shells he was discarding were a source of walnut ink. He kept the shells for me and when there was an empty washing tab box full I covered the shells with water and put them in the loft for three months. I boiled the resulting liquid until it had thickened and then bottled the ink. Then my interest turned to the shells which were left, surely there was some colour in them. I boiled them in some water, strained the result and simmered some threads and fabric .

I used the resulting fabrics and threads in a stitched piece.

Then my thoughts turned to ink cap ink. Luckily I found four ink cap fungi in a local wood and took them home to decay. I strained and boiled the resulting liquid to make ink and then added the left over mush to some water to make a dyebath. After boiling and straining the dye I added fabrics and threads . The dyed items are waiting for my attention.

Spring came and the first plant to catch my eye with dyeing potential was nettles . I collected, boiled, strained dyed all in a morning.

The next idea was a bad one. At a museum I saw a weaving of nettle fibres. I’ll try that I thought. I figured the central stems would need soaking so it would strip into fibres. And maybe if I soaked the leaves before making the dyebath I’d get a stronger coloured dye. Early one morning I collected a garden waste bag full of nettles, stripped off the leaves and put them in a bucket, covered them with water and put a plant saucer on top to keep them submerged. Then I layed the stems in a large garden tray covered them with another one and left them in the garden. A week later my husband came in and said what are you going to do with that bucket, I just hit it with the lawnmower and it stinks. No problem I thought I’ll wear gloves when I tip the liquid out . And I did, but no amount of washing would get the smell off my hands. It was foul and it was there for the rest of the day . I gave up on the dyeing and decided to keep the liquid as plant feed. As I moved it I splashed my jeans and had to take them off and wash them because of the smell. The plant feed and the stalks are in the garden waiting for the day I feel daft or brave enough to deal with them.