Plant dyes

Plant dying is an old hobby of mine and this summer I started on madder, logwood and pear. Cotton material as expected turned out to be a challenge as it requires harsh treatment and a lot of dye stuff. But the results were pleasing and worth the effort.

I am the lucky owner of large ponds with flowing water so the materials were allowed a swim before the washing machine.

Here are some of the results of my efforts: The logwood jacket and the pear jacket. Pear leaves and bark produces some very nice golden and reddish cobber colors that I have used in a number of my recent creations.

This autumn I have experimented with indigo dying and as expected the cotton is testing my patience. It does require a lot of dipping to get deep blue colors. But I will persist until the first male jacket has been produced.