A Garden to Dye For. Chris McLaughlin
bears repeating that all of these fibers will draw up color differently depending not only on its specific fiber properties, but also how it shows up as a fiber. For example, the wool that you’re dyeing might be raw off the sheep, spun up into a yarn, or woven as a fabric. All three of these will grab color differently because the density is different in all three. Keep in mind that the denser the textile, the deeper the shade of color.
The Magic of Mordants
As I mentioned, some plant dyes are naturally colorfast, and some aren’t color-fast at all (meaning you’ll get color at first, but it’ll wash out or fade very quickly), and others just need a little assistance. Enter the mordants.
A mordant is used to help the color “stick” or bind to the fiber. Some are metallic, such as alum (potassium aluminum sulfate), iron (ferrous sulfate), copper (copper sulfate), tin (stannous chloride), and chrome (potassium dichromate). Copper, tin, and chrome are the least earth-and-people-friendly. They’re toxic even in small quantities and disposing of them requires extra-special handling.
For the purposes of this book, we’ll be discussing only the safest and most eco-friendly mordants: alum, along with cream of tartar, iron, and plant-based mordants. When these mordants are used in the right proportions they’re safe and considered non-toxic. Don’t take this to mean that they can’t irritate your hands or lungs, however. Gloves (and preferably a mask) should be used when handling any metallic mordant. Be sure to read “The Safety Talk” in Chapter 2.
Plant-based mordants are obtained from plants that are naturally heavy in tannins (tannic acid), such as acorns, oak galls, and sumac leaves. I use acorns or oak galls, but staghorn sumac leaves can also be used. We can even “borrow” tannins from plants (without using them as an actual dye) to create a mordant bath. Sumac leaves, for example: to use them as a mordant, just add a big handful of leaves to a couple of gallons of water and simmer for 2 hours. Strain off the leaves and you have a mordant bath ready for fabric. It’s that simple.
Good to Know:
Some plants have natural binding properties and don’t need the assistance of a separate mordant to offer you long-lasting color. Examples would be: black walnuts, acorns, oak galls, pine bark, pomegranate rind, onion skins, rhubarb, apple tree branches, and Osage-orange bark.
Rhubarb leaves contain oxalic acid and make a nice mordant for animal fibers. But please be cautious if you choose to use rhubarb as a mordant or dye – the leaves are very poisonous. Dispose of them carefully to keep them out of the reach of animals or people.
Manipulate With Modifiers
Modifiers brighten, darken or change the color of a dyebath, but they don’t help the color adhere to the fibers. Like almost everything, there are exceptions to the rule. One exception is iron, which acts as both a mordant and a modifier and will “sadden” (deepen) the original dye color.
I like to use modifiers as an “afterbath” for my dyed fibers. The modifier pot is an endless source of entertainment as far as I’m concerned. Surprises are guaranteed, so keep some of these bad boys around to play with.
Here’s a tease for when you’re all set up and starting to experiment:
If you’d like to see what happens with an acidic modifier, try dipping your fabric or fiber into a white vinegar or lemon juice solution. Make a modifier after-dip by filling a non-reactive pot or bowl with ¼ cup of vinegar or lemon juice. I usually dilute these with a little water (I don’t measure it), but you can also use both with their full strength.
Or you can go the opposite direction on the scale and use an alkaline modifier, like baking soda or ammonia.
Modifiers will bring more shades to the natural dye palette.
Baking soda is my go-to modifier because it’s always in the cupboard by my stove. To modify the original bath with just the baking soda, I add 1 teaspoon to the pot. If I wanted to try a different modifier with this dyebath, I’d pour half of it into another pot and add the baking soda to one of them – leaving the remaining to use with a different modifier.
I use ammonia differently. I put really hot tap water into a non-reactive bowl (it’s usually glass) and about ½ cup of ammonia into the bowl. Then I add my just-dyed fibers to the bowl and swish them around. Presto-change-o! If it doesn’t look like anything is changing, add more ammonia.
Finding & Collecting Color
Not all color comes from flowers; even when it does, the flower color doesn’t always dictate the dye color you end up with. Aside from petals, dye can be extracted from leaves, bark (and stems), as well as roots – depending on the plant. Nuts and their hulls are often excellent sources of rich color.
Before we get into some detail on finding color, I want to talk a little bit about collecting the plant materials. As a gardener, I know that I can’t go lopping off branches and foliage as I please or I’ll leave my plant with very little to grow on and may end up sacrificing the entire plant. Unless we’re talking about a noxious weed, this is never part of the gardener’s plan.
The rule of thumb for how much material you can safely remove from a plant is less than ⅓ of any part of that plant. Of course, if you have a bunch of tree trimmings or are cutting a perennial plant or shrub back drastically then your mileage may vary.
As far as ethics and general decency go, you should ask for permission to obtain plant materials from friends and neighbors before you break out the clippers. Here’s a hypothetical example: your parents head to Lake Tahoe for the weekend. You generously offer to “water their plants.” Unbeknownst to them, you casually harvest blossoms here and trimmings there. Don’t do that.
Most of the dyers I know start out by utilizing the plants they have currently growing in their yard or garden. It’s a rather obvious natural progression to one day plant a designated dyer’s garden.
Flowers
Flower heads and petals are usually the fastest dyebaths to make. They’re quick to color up and often produce a lovely scent while they’re on the stove. Generally, flower petal color is at its best when processed in a hot (simmering) dyebath for 30-60 minutes. However, they can sometimes react poorly if they’re processed for too long at high temperatures, so raise the temperature slowly for good control. Another way to extract flower color is to pour boiling water over them and let them soak for a few hours in a non-reactive container.
Leaves
Leaves can often surprise you with some great color, but dye colors from leaves will vary depending on the time of year that you harvested them. So it’s worth it to try vegetation from the same plant in every season. Late spring and early summer are usually the most impressive.
The best way to extract the color is to pour boiling water over the leaves and let them soak for a couple of days. After that, simmer them for about 30 minutes in a dyebath.
Japanese indigo (Persicaria tinctoria) is more widely grown than regular indigo (Indigofera tinctoria).
Berries
Berries can trick you color-wise.