As part of the V+A Garden Futures: Designing with Nature Exhibition we became part of a local project to grow and harvest dye plants. The resulting dyes have been used in various Workshops and Dye Socials run by Jek McAllister. We are developing a collective knowledge of growing and using these plants. It has been a great project and lots of fun for everyone involved.....and has produced some beautiful results.
We grew the following plants from seed: Night scented Stock, Black Sunflowers, African Marigolds, Cosmos, Coreopsis, Scabious Black Knight, Dyer's Chamomile, Indigo and Black Hollyhocks. Jek sourced all the seeds and materials for the gardens.
Come harvest time we picked flowers, leaves and seeds.
FLOWERS- Marigolds, Stock, Cosmos, Coreopsis, Scabious, Chamomile and Hollyhock flowers were all picked and dried. To dry them they were placed in a single layer on a dry surface. We used a combination of cardboard boxes and wicker trays. On sunny days the flowers were placed outside, we also had some on sunny windowsills. You could use a dehydrator for quicker results. The fully dry flowers were stored in paper bags in a dry, dark place.
SEEDS- The black sunflower seeds were harvested off the dry flower head. We just hung the heads up to dry then pooped the seeds out of the head.
LEAVES- The Indigo leaves give off a blueish tinge even before they are used. In its simplest form we just crushed the leaves by hand in a bowl with water and a couple of table spoons of salt to help the process. There is lots of information online about natural dyeing processes in more detail.
We used some of the dyes to dye wool and cotton fabric. We made cards using Hapa zome (Leaf Dye) which is the Japanese art of hammering the colour out of a plant onto card or fabric.
A good book 'Make and Use Natural Dyes- Wild Colour' by Jenny Dean helped us with a lot of good tips and advice.
There is also a whole world of Dye videos online which show easy techniques to try at home. Have fun experimenting!
