Dyeing Adventure – Day 1
Step 1 – Foraging
This week, I was especially excited to be able to collaborate with Grace on some dye experiments. Grace had just recently moved to a new house that had a large studio space perfect for art and natural dye work. We started off on the Evergreen campus though, and foraged for an assortment of dye materials, including Oregon grape root, blackberry leaves, nettle, and scotch broom flowers.
Step 2 – Choosing Fibers
Once we arrived at Grace’s home, Grace was very kind in letting me go through her fabric collection to find white pieces for us to dye. We ended up with an assortment of cotton, linen, and canvas materials, which we divided up between the dyes we made.
Step 3 – Making Dye Baths
I’ll be completely honest, the dyeing process was honestly scary to me. It’s the reason why I was hesitant to even mordant my fiber last week, and the reason why I have put off my dyeing until Week 6. It feels like such an intimidating task, with a lot at stake: What if the dye doesn’t come out the way I want it to? What if I completely ruin my piece of fiber? What if I waste all the plant material I harvested by not using all of the dye or by not using the dye at all?
In the end, however, dyeing is a pretty simple task, something I didn’t acknowledge until I saw Grace’s Oregon grape root dye bubbling away on her stovetop. It just takes time and patience and the right materials and knowledge. And there’s not really a way to ruin a piece of fiber; instead of being afraid of ruining a piece, approach it with a view of excitement in discovering how unique your piece will turn out.
By approaching the dyeing process head-on with support from Grace, I felt a lot more comfortable setting up dye projects on my own, which is what I did after returning home with my basket still full of nettle. Below are the steps to create a dye bath.
Making a Dye Bath
Materials
- Foraged material (leaves, flowers, roots, berries, etc.)
- Pot
- Strainer
Depending on the material used, the process of making the dye bath will vary. Notes will be made to accommodate different foraged materials.
1. Chop, Crush Foraged Material
By chopping, shredding, or crushing foraged materials for dyes, the color can easily be extracted into the water. Leaves and roots can be chopped, berries can be crushed, bark and nuts can also be chopped. Flowers are the one material that does not require chopping. Ratios of plant material to washed, scoured, and dried fiber are listed below:
1 part leaves or flowers to 1 part animal fiber or 2 parts leaves or flowers to 1 part plant fiber
3 parts roots, nuts, or bark to 1 part animal or plant fiber
1 part berries to 1 part animal or plant fiber
2. Add to Dye Pot with Water
Add the foraged material to the dye pot and pour boiling water overtop. Make sure there is enough water for the fiber to eventually move around freely.
The only exception in this part of the process is berries, which should be left to simmer for an hour after crushing. Strain out the berry residue and use the dye bath when ready.
3. Soak and Strain
Most materials need to be soaked overnight after the addition of boiling water in the dye pot. Leaves should be left to soak for 1 to 3 days, roots and bark/nuts can soak for 1 to 3 weeks, and flowers should soak for only one night. Heat can also be applied for 30 minutes to an hour to speed up the color extraction process. After the desired color has been achieved from soaking, the plant residue can be strained out and the dye bath used.
Dyes can be stored in lidded buckets or sealed glass jars for a few weeks if not used immediately. If mold appears, it can simply be skimmed off of the top before dyeing. Dyes can also be frozen in plastic containers if not used within those few weeks.
Step 4 – Celebrate with Friends!
It was very kind of Grace and Caleb to allow me to stay for their dinner party after finishing up the dyeing for the night. We had sandwiches with salami, manchego cheese, tomato, and olive oil, along with a delicious spring salad and artichoke dipped in lemon butter sauce. Grace also shared a wide variety of tea options with us from her job at Encore Chocolates and Teas; I especially enjoyed the honey ginger tea and had two mugs full of it. For dessert, Caleb brought a delicious chocolate pudding from a local restaurant which he served with strawberries and fresh whipped cream. It was a delightful meal.
I was really thankful for this evening; it was a first glimpse back into normalcy after a year of isolation and fear. Even if it was a small dinner party, it was a dinner party no less, with friends sharing stories and laughing over a table full of good food. This evening gave me hope for the future. It inspired me to look forward to in-person learning next year, with my classmates working right at my side instead of through a computer screen. It also excited me for future connections made with my classmates. This school year has been a tough one when it comes to connecting with my peers, but I think I’ve done a pretty good job of it after living through a world of quarantine during my first year of college. And if I can do a good job under these circumstances, I can’t wait to see all the connections I’ll be able to make under normal circumstances as well.
Dyeing Adventure – Day 2
The following day, I returned to Grace’s house after we let the blackberry leaves and scotch broom flowers soak overnight. I realized we had made a mistake with the blackberry leaves by not tearing them up first, so not much color had soaked into the water overnight. We fixed this by simmering the leaves separately on the stove for an hour before adding any fiber.
By adding the fiber to the mix of plant material, Grace and I were experimenting with the all-in-one dyeing method. This is the combination of the fiber and foraged material together in the dye pot, instead of the creation of a separate dye bath that the material is strained out of, which is known as the hot dyeing method. I left Grace’s house before I could see the end results of the all-in-one method, as the fiber needed to soak overnight in the pot. I am so appreciative of Grace for sharing her home with me and for working with me in my first dye experiments.