44hand-dyeing with natural
materials, so don’t be tossing
your favourite silk blouse into the
stockpot just yet. As Jessica and
Jes did, try playing around with
different fibres and weaves;
similarly, you’ll also want to try
different botanicals in varying
concentrations. But this is a fun
activity that you can do today with
the items you almost certainly
already have in your kitchen.
Autumn is an ideal time to
harvest your botanicals, since
the pigment in many plants is at
its highest concentration and
there’s an abundance of colours
to choose from. The cooler
weather also lends itself well to
working around a big pot of
boiling water while still being
able to line-dry your fabrics.
In autumn, the aspen leaf is
a buttery yellow; walnuts are
mature and ready to be harvested
from the tree or the ground; the
rich golden yellow of goldenrod is
abundantly available; and the
dried berries, or drupe, of a sumac
are rich in pigment. Jessica and
Jes chose to demonstrate with
their black walnut harvest
because it’s one of the few dyes
that is a direct dye, meaning you
don’t need any fancy mordants to
get a bold, colourfast dye. But
be warned: black walnuts will
stain anything they touch, so
consider wearing gloves and
working outside.
The first step is to make your
dye by boiling your botanicals for
30 to 90 minutes, depending on
how concentrated you want your
dye to be. You can use dried
material from previous seasons, or
go for a nature walk and collect
fresh seasonal material. Whether
you use fresh or dried, it shouldn’t
greatly affect the results. After
your dye is boiled and strained,
you can either store your dye in
Mason jars to use another day, or
add your fabrics and continue
with your experiment.
If you want to enhance your
dyes or experiment with drawing
out different pigments, an option
is to invest in a mordant, such as
an alum or a tannin. Another
option is to pre-treat your fabric
by scouring it overnight to
remove any dirt or natural oils.