Dye Another Day

This week’s blogging is brought to you by the letter B, makers of Breathe and Believe- practice both so you can move forward!

Woo woo – I now have 2 more garden boxes! You know what this means? A dyer’s garden! Or…a garden to DYE for! Oh har har!

I want to be able to dye the fiber I get at the fiber festival this September, so whatever I plant will need to be fast-growing. Borrowed several books from the library and it’s just on the brink of overwhelming. The one I think I’ll be referring to the most is this book by Rita Buchanan. A small book and very organized. On the left page is a photo of the plant followed by a description, how to grow, and how to dye. On the right edge of the right page are photos of the colors you get from that plant, depending on the mordant used and on the fiber. It’s interesting to see the difference a mordant makes in the final product. I will be using only alum for this year.

Now to figure out what I’ll be growing!

Some aspects of Old World dyeing puzzle me. Like cheese puzzles me. Some techniques used fermentation. Some used pee. It makes me wonder who took that first step. With cheese, who looked at the smelly, moldy mass and thought, “Hm. I’m going to put that in my mouth and eat it.” Same thing with dyeing. Who thought, “I’m going to keep my pee and use it to soak fabric in.” or “Oh hey. This bucket of plant material may make a good dye, but first I’ll let it sit around in murky water and let it rot. THEN I’ll stick my fabric in it.”

And how about this- “Hm…I’m going to scrape all these bugs off this plant, smash ‘em up, and then use that as a dye!” Good times!

Does make me wonder what plants are out there yet to be discovered for dyeing making, though. I will probably let some of the weeds grow in for this purpose. I will not, however, be saving my pee.

I’m sorry. This will be it for today. It’s been a long day and I’m already falling asleep. Not even a photo to make things pretty.