{"id":10792,"date":"2023-08-02T22:28:38","date_gmt":"2023-08-03T02:28:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/?p=10792"},"modified":"2023-08-06T22:22:06","modified_gmt":"2023-08-07T02:22:06","slug":"natural-dyes-from-invasives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/2023\/08\/natural-dyes-from-invasives\/","title":{"rendered":"Natural dyes from invasives"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I&#8217;ve been researching natural dyes for textiles, and got interested in the possibility of using invasive species to make dyes. After all, if you&#8217;re going to pull up the plants anyway, why not do something with them? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.massnrc.org\/mipag\/invasive.htm\">Here&#8217;s a list of invasive plants in Massachusetts<\/a>, and also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.massnrc.org\/mipag\/linvasive.htm\">a list of plants likely to be invasive<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m still in the research phase, and haven&#8217;t actually tried any of these myself. Many of these appear to be recipes for dyeing wool yarn. Nevertheless, here are some possibilities I found:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Japanese Barberry (Berberis thunbergii), European Barberry (Berberis vulgaris) \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thesprucecrafts.com\/make-yellow-natural-fabric-dyes-2145748\">bark is said to make a yellow dye:<\/a> Use plenty of plant material and steep for &#8220;several hours.&#8221; Then use the mordant appropriate to the textile.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Japanese Knotweed \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=21yXFKKWes0\">plants are said to make a greenish-yellow color<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Lesser Celadine (Ficaris verna) \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/danceswithwool.wordpress.com\/2011\/04\/03\/plants-for-dyeing-celandine\/\">plants\/roots are said to make a &#8220;buttery yellow&#8221; color:<\/a> Simmer the entire plant (roots, leaves, etc.) in 1 gallon of water for 30 min. Remove plants. Mordant the textile, submerge in dye bath, then simmer (don&#8217;t boil) for 30 min.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/naturaldye\/comments\/v9gfhb\/dye_from_garlic_mustard\/?rdt=47921\">whole plants are said to make a yellow dye, or pale green with iron mordant<\/a> \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/invasivespecies.blogspot.com\/2004\/06\/dye-garlic-mustard-dye-want-unique-way.html\">and here&#8217;s a more detailed recipe from a reliable source<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Multiflora Rose (Rosa multiflora) \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/jefpat.maryland.gov\/AnalyticsReports\/dye-plants.pdf\">leaves (or whole plant) are said to make a yellow-green dye with alum mordant<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fs.usda.gov\/wildflowers\/ethnobotany\/dyes.shtml\">said to make a purple dye<\/a>, but I can find no one who has actually done it<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Oriental Bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus) \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/jeffersonaspire.com\/jefferson-investigates-dyes-from-invasive-plants\/\">roots are said to make brown dye if used with Red Oak acorn mordant<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Other non-native species that can be used for dyeing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Queen Anne&#8217;s Lace (Dacus carota) \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/localcolordyes.com\/tag\/purple-loosestrife\/\">flowers are said to make yellow dye<\/a> \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/jefpat.maryland.gov\/AnalyticsReports\/dye-plants.pdf\">leaves are said to make bright yellow dye with alum mordant<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare), which can be locally invasive \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/allfiberarts.com\/2011\/how_dye_tansy.htm\">tansy flowers are said to make yellow dye<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Black Walnut (Juglans nigrans), which is not native in SE Mass. \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/jefpat.maryland.gov\/AnalyticsReports\/dye-plants.pdf\">green husks are said to make a warm brown dye, no mordant needed<\/a> \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gagehillcrafts.com\/butternut-dye\/\">butternut hulls also work<\/a> \u2014 these dyes may not require mordant<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Rosa rugosa \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/hamptonslife.wordpress.com\/2012\/05\/15\/beach-roses-rosa-rugosa\/\">flowers are said to make dusty pink dye:<\/a> To make the dye bath: water (quantity not specified), flowers, 1 tsp vinegar, 2 tsp alum. Simmer for 2 hours, then add fabric. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kraftkolour.net.au\/rosehip.html\">Can also use the rose hips.<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Unfortunately, much of the material I found online is not entirely useful. Some of the webpages linked to above just say that the plant can be used as a dye, but with no indication of mordants, length of time in dye bath, color-fastness, etc. And many of those dyeing are only interested in dyeing wool yarns, while I&#8217;m more interested in tie-dye projects for kids (<a href=\"https:\/\/botanicalcolors.com\/how-to-mordant\/\">here&#8217;s info on mordants for cellulose, e.g. cotton, fibers<\/a>). Anyway, I&#8217;m planning to do some invasive species dyeing myself, and if I do I&#8217;ll give some more details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve been researching natural dyes for textiles, and got interested in the possibility of using invasive species to make dyes. After all, if you&#8217;re going to pull up the plants anyway, why not do something with them? Here&#8217;s a list of invasive plants in Massachusetts, and also a list of plants likely to be invasive. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/2023\/08\/natural-dyes-from-invasives\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Natural dyes from invasives&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[845],"tags":[498,840],"class_list":["post-10792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-se-massachusetts","tag-ecojustice-camp","tag-invasive-species"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10792"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10800,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10792\/revisions\/10800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}