Recently, I had the opportunity to indulge my interest in natural plant dyeing through a workshop held at the Armitage Center at the KU Biological Field Station. The workshop was led by Professor Mary Anne Jordan (KU Department of Visual Arts), who I have been collaborating with on developing a dye plant garden. We invited students from VanGo, Inc. to join us in exploring the colors from nature. We dyed cotton and silk with a indigo, madder, pomegranate, and weld.
Bird Handkerchief
We first painted on a design using an iron-based concoction, This was then washed off, dried, and then dyed with madder. Iron will darken and somewhat dull the dye color, or as dyers call it "saddening".
Indigo Paramecium Handkerchief
We explored different "tie-dye" techniques and then dyed our handkerchiefs in indigo dye vats. I tried to do a little shibori, a technique I have been interested in learning. I soon realized it would take too long, so I ended up tying off the corners. The paramecium at the center is the outcome from the tiny bit of shibori I did manage.
Three Silk Scarves
We first dyed the pre-mordanted scarves (I think they were alum mordanted) with madder, pomegranate, and weld (from left to right).
Once they were dry, we did a resist over dye using a variety of techniques.
From top to bottom - indigo over weld, pomegranate over weld, then madder over both, indigo over pomegranate.
