2 Beginner Friendly Natural Dyes at Home
Have you ever been interested in natural dyes, but didn’t know where to start? What a better place to start than with items that you can get with your next grocery pickup order! These two natural dyes are gorgeous, and beginner friendly — perfect to help get acquainted with the world of natural dyes. Before you start, you’ll need some un-dyed wool. I suggest something like Fishermen’s Wool Yarn.
Important Disclaimer
It is important that you never use the same materials for cooking that you do dyeing. If you dye with a pot and use one your spoons, set those aside to be used with dyeing again in the future, retiring them from your food kitchen. Safety first! While the dyes are all natural, some of the dye modifiers you would not want to ingest.
Black Bean Dye
Ingredients - Dye Bath
4 cans black beans (any brand)
2 Tbsp citric acid (or 2 Tbsp white vinegar)
Ingredients - Mordant Bath
2 Tbsp Alum (in the baking section)
Ingredients - Additional
Stir sticks (wooden spoons)
Dye pot (Aluminum or stainless steel)
3 skeins of wool (apx 100g per skein).
Directions
To make the dye bath, empty the 4 cans of beans into about 1/2 gallon of water, tap water will work fine. Bring to a boil and boil for at least an hour (the longer you boil, the stronger the color). Then, strain the dye through cheese cloth or a colander to get rid of the beans. You can actually use these beans so they don’t go to waste! Get awesome color, and limit waste — win win.
To prepare your fiber, you need to mordant it. Mordants are basically ‘modifiers’ that open up your fiber to accept dye more readily, therefore creating stronger color. Some natural dyes are more colorfast, some more fugitive. Colorfast dyes last longer, and fugitive dyes tend to fade. Black bean dye is a fugitive dye, so it may not stay full saturation forever, but sometimes that is the magic of natural dye. As it fades, you can enjoy the new colors you’ll see, or you can over-dye them again to create totally new colors.
To mordant our wool, we are going to boil or ‘scour’ it in a solution of water and alum. Fill a pot with water (with enough room left for your wool) and add 2 Tbsp of alum powder. Then, add your wool and bring this solution to a boil, boiling for as long as you are preparing your dye-bath (about an hour).
Once your dye bath is ready and your wool is mordanted, add the citric acid (or vinegar) to the dye bath and reheat. Add your fiber and let sit (or boil) until desired color is achieved. You should achieve any color in the spectrum of purple to mauve. I bet you never expected black beans to contain such a beautiful dye.
“Knowing that you love the earth changes you, activates you to defend and protect and celebrate. But when you feel that the earth loves you in return, that feeling transforms the relationship from a one-way street into a sacred bond.”
Avocado Pits and Skins Dye
Ingredients - Dye Bath
4 Avocado pits and skins (the more the stronger the color)
2 Tbsp citric acid (or 2 Tbsp white vinegar)
Ingredients - Mordant Bath
2 Tbsp Alum (technically optional due to high tannin levels in avocado stones)
Ingredients - Additional
Stir sticks (wooden spoons)
Dye pot (Aluminum or stainless steel)
3 skeins of wool (apx 100g per skein)
Directions
To make the dye bath, place the avocado stones (pits) and skins in about 1/2 gallon of water, tap water will work fine. Slowly heat for at least an hour. You want to slowly extract the color from the pits and stones, you do not want to boil avocados. The more slowly you extract the pigment, the richer your color will be. Then, strain the dye through cheese cloth or a colander to get rid of the avocado material.
To prepare your fiber, you need to mordant it. You can refer to the previous section on mordants for more information. Avocado dye is rather colorfast, so the color should last well into the future.
To mordant our wool, we are going to boil or ‘scour’ it in a solution of water and alum. Fill a pot with water (with enough room left for your wool) and add 2 Tbsp of alum powder. Then, add your wool and bring this solution to a boil, boiling for as long as you are preparing your dye-bath (about an hour).
Once your dye bath is ready and your wool is mordanted, add the citric acid (or vinegar) to the dye bath and reheat. Add your fiber and let sit until desired color is achieved. You should achieve any color in the spectrum of taupe to light to medium pink. The dye from avocado skins and stones is really a special color, warm and light. There is nothing quite like it.
