natural dyes?

So today I had to blanch some hazelnuts, and thus the water turned a beautiful deep red. Of course, I found this to be totally exciting and proceeded to dye a t-shirt a lovely rusty red.

Anyone else have any suggestions for natural dyes that I can make at home? I already know about beets .


:daisy:

 

This is awesome! I will jot the hazelnuts down..

Hmm... let's see.. what else... Beets? Um... I'm not sure.
I want to start dying my own yarn (that way I can buy the organic cotton, dye it naturally, and voila! eco-knitting!), so I really wanna learn more about dying!

 

Coffee!!!
You can also use it as hair dye.

 

Walnuts. The stuff under the outside husk makes a dark brown dye. Steep them for a couple of weeks in 5 gallon buckets of water.

 

When I was young my mother went through a phase of being intensely interested in natural dying...I remember she used to collect large amounts of onion peel to use. Presumably this would make a light brown dye, but I dont know the method used....you'd have to research it further.
Then theres Henna...which i know people use for hair, but not so sure about clothes. It makes a beautiful deep red though..

 

Turmeric! Makes everything yellow, including your fingers and everything it touches.

I've heard you can use potassium alum to fix the dyes. At least that's what my grandmother did.

 

You can use things from the kitchen, using food items and garden plants to make dyes is an age old tradition. I thought about buying some dye to change the color, but traditional chemical fabric dyes are not that great for the environment. The cool thing is that you can dye any kind of natural fabric with vegetable or fruit. Native Americans have used fruits and vegetables for centuries to dye their clothes. And, we can still do it today. Dyeing clothes with natural dye is not only a great way to use up veggies or fruits that are on their way out, but it’s also a super-fun project to do with kids.

 

red onion skins
privet (leaves)

 

Onion skins make a lovely yellow; you can buy madder plants online which make a gorgeous red dye, and it grows nicely as a potted plant. Black Walnut will give you a dark, cool brown. Indigo's pickier about where it will grow but is the most reliable blue for plant dyes.

Hi, I'm new!

 

If you want to dye silk or wool, acid is needed.

That's how I got the gentian violet(I know, it's not natural) to stay in my hair and keep it blue, I added vinegar. Heat will also set a stain in most fabrics for ages, as well as help set dye in hair.

If I remember right, salt is needed for cotton and other plant based fibers to swell the fiber and pull the dye in. Heat is also good for a final set, since you want to KEEP the pretty new shade.

Look up historic dye, but cross check the ingredients with a chem tech for safety. While many will tell you natural is safe, plants are made of chemical compounds, and some of the old school dyes were every bit as caustic as the newer chemical forms. Some salts, like copper salt used to stain cheep absinth, are not exactly safe, and some acids or bases really should not be exposed to skin(ammonia is natural too). Woad is old as it gets for a blue dye, but some formulas may be hallucinogenic, others will have the neighbors caling the cops over stink from your home. Mind you, woad is also a common weed that comes up in sidewalk cracks.

And of course, every time I turn around, California finds new things that cause cancer, including plenty of plants. Eat the soy, it's healthy. Don't eat the soy, it will give you cancer. Don't have caffeine, it's poison and may cause cancer. Drink tea, it's the secret to long life. Eat the tomato, it's good for you. Don't eat the tomato, it may cause cancer. I don't think science really knows what causes cancer. Be more concerned with chemical burns or spilling boiling dye for now.