Free PDF: Plant and Color Guide

Do you have an unremovable tomato sauce stain on your favorite white trousers? Don't be ashamed! Start by referring to your smudges as "artistic ecological dyeing" and send your haters to this here article to proof them all wrong once and for all!

And if your tomato sauce splatter isn't too artful on it's own you can stain your clothes purposefully next time!

Now, let's give credit where it's due:

Amanda de Beaufort (@dyekween) made this article posible and you should not only download her helpful PDF but also check out her Domestika course where she goes in depth on flower dyeing.

To start, Amanda has some cautionary tales to share with us: It might be best to avoid plants like beets, red cabbage, black beans, and most berries since they are all fugitive dyes and stain fabric only temporarily (like the "fugitive" term illustrates perfectly and somewhat resentfully). The color will wash out and turn beige very quickly.

Weeds and many medicinal plants that you can find in the local market or foraged from near by parks have dye properties. You could even use "Weed" for dyeing, but I'm sure you'll find another use for it...!

Amanda recommends identifying the plant before using it for dyeing, since they could be poisonous (on top of being fugitive... Unlikeable traits indeed!). A guide will come in handy, preferably one that covers your area's flora. Check out the PDF for book examples that can come in handy when identifying plants in the wild (copywriting is all about creating a sense of mystery in the reader...! I'm sure that even knowing my tricks you will fall for them...!)

Here are three examples explained:

Coreopsis: Common name Tickseed. These small flowers are a favorite of both dyers and gardeners. These yield orange/yellow and print beautiful

Cosmos: These come in a lot of varieties but the deep orange tango, or sulphur cosmos work best. Any of the darker colors work well.

Scabiosa: Common name Pincushion Flower. The Black knight or very dark purple ones would best. I also grow the butterfly blue ones that give a light celery green!

And yes, there are even more on the PDF... I know I'm repeating my gimmick here...! With Amanda's expertise there is no need for silly copywriter tricks anyways!

A Bit of History

Archaeologists have found evidence of textile dyeing going back to the Neolithic period, which began around 10,200 BC. In China, there is evidence that dyes were created from insects, barks, and plants, beginning about 5,000 years ago. To orient ourselves, this is before Mutti's tomato sauce stains even existed!

Historically, dyes came from nature, specifically from roots, berries, bark, leaves, wood, and other organic, naturally occurring substances such as fungi.

I really meant it when I wrote "A Bit of History"... The download is down below, so close, you can almost smell the colors!

And here are even more dyeing content for the insatiably creative:

- A Course on Eco Printing
- Brief history about botanical printing An Article by Ingrid Constant