Eco Dyeing Mania - Part One

 

Foraged leaves and bundling sticks

One strategy I have been relying on heavily to survive the Covid-19 pandemic is eco-dyeing - a practice tailor-made for plague times. During the height of the pandemic I was essentially restricted to roaming my walkable neighborhood near Lake Merritt in Oakland, and once home I found myself with plenty of time on my hands and no visitors in site. I used those walks to forage for leaves and the time at home to experiment, and two years in there is barely a textile surface in my house left untouched by eco-dyed prints. I will be sharing those over the next few posts, but in response to requests I am including in this first post a couple of handy eco-dye how-to links. 

How-To Sources

Just click on the headline of the source to reach the link.

India Flint: The goddess of eco-dyeing and author of the book Eco Colour (Murdoch Press, 2008). A great grounding in techniques and possibilities.

Dye Plants: Figuring out which plants have leaves that produce strong, crisp prints can be an ongoing experimental process, or you look for a little help. This link is a guide to dye plants in North America complete with photographs of both the plant and the dye print they produce. Look for the plants that grow in your neighborhood. And do experiment on your own as well.

Mordants: The key to successful eco-dyeing, this link offers clear-cut, simple instructions on how to create both a copper and an iron mordant (you get different colors and results depending on which you use).

Sample Works: Household Textiles

Pillows

Here is a gallery of pillows created during the pandemic via eco-dyeing.

Pillow One

Pillow One Reverse

Pillow Two

Pillow Two Reverse

Pillow Three

Pillow Three Reverse

Pillow Four

Pillow Four Reverse

Curtains

These eco-dyed curtains use a magnetic fastening system I invented. Little magnets are sewn into the top edge of the curtain, and metal washers have been fastened to the window edge using removable museum wax. These bay windows look out on Lake Merritt and most of the time I want the view unobstructed. However, at night when guests sleep on the front daybed, or when I would like an afternoon nap, this system allows me to put curtains up in seconds, and then take them down again even more quickly.

The curtain storage box

The curtains in a lovely jumble

Small magnets sewn into top curtain edge

Corresponding metal washers on window ledge

Curtains hung in bay windows

Closer view

Detail view

Detail view

Detail view

Bonus

And here is a throw-away bonus: a photo of a cloth throw in progress which was gifted away before I had a chance to further document the item.

Eco-dyed throw in progress

Stay tuned for one more post related to eco-dyeing which focuses on hyper-local couture.