Dyeing with natural materials

[oetzi]

I am looking for an older post I cant find with the search-function.
It was a list of natural materials used for dyeing or maybe a link to such a list.
I am not even sure whether it was here in Bushcraft I read it, but read it I did and not save it.
Who can help me?
thank you.

 

[Stuart]

this sounds like somthing toddy could help with, I'm sure she'll be along soon

 

[Toddy]

Sorry Oetzi, I've just found this thread.
This sounds so simple but it's not really. I don't recall a 'list' of natural dyes here but here are plenty out on the net. Personally I treat them 'all' with a great deal of scepticism; too many blithe regurgitations of somone else's, already copied, lists that just aren't accurate. Too many lists that take no account of local conditions, seasons, varieties, water, fabrics, etc., or give advice on how to adjust accordingly.

May I ask why you want a dyeplant list? If you can maybe tie the query/need down a little, then appropriate links and advice could be offered.

I'm not being deliberately awkward, I've just seen too many disappointed people when despite their hard work and best efforts thier dye comes up with a very insipid stain instead of vibrant colour.

atb,
Toddy

 

[oetzi]

Its some info I want to source for my mother.
Yesterday she told me that she re-newed the colour of darknavy cotton clothes by putting some leafs of ivy into the washingmachine with them and they came out like new.
We talked about these things and she remembered her grandmother who used to use natural dyes for their clothes. Herself she couldnt remember what it was and so I thought I could help her finding some more information.
You know how it is on the web. You read something, but forget to bookmark it or put a bookmark somewhere not to be found again.
Its not much of a problem, just something on my mind nagging me.

 

[Toddy]

Ivy's good for me here too.

How about the Plants for a Future databases?

http://www.pfaf.org/database/search_use.php?K[]=Dye

http://www.pfaf.org/database/search_use.php?K[]=Mordant

At least these give a wide range of available plants and a lot of information on individual ones.
There are lots of other lists, like the following one on traidtional Scottish dyes.....where lots of the ingredients don't actually grow in Scotland
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_dyes_of_the_Scottish_Highlands

Commercially, if I have to buy dyestuffs (usually I grow, gather or barter what I need), I buy from Fibrecrafts. Usual disclaimers, etc.,

http://www.fibrecrafts.com/

I'd be interested in hearing what other dyes your mother rmembers or uses too

Cheers,
Mary

 

[stovie]

Not sure if this is the thread you were thinking of Oetzi, but Toddy (wonderful lady that she is) came up with some very interesting dye stuff when I was exploring fletching colours.

this is the link Dyeing Fletches

Hope it helps

 

[Klenchblaize]

Often wondered if it is possible to transfer the lovely verdigris green of the “Green Elfcup” (Chlorociboria aeruginascens) fungi to cloth.

 

[Burnt Ash]

I am looking for an older post I cant find with the search-function.
It was a list of natural materials used for dyeing or maybe a link to such a list.
I am not even sure whether it was here in Bushcraft I read it, but read it I did and not save it.
Who can help me?
thank you.

There was a feisty lady called Violetta Thurstan who was a nurse in the 1914-18 War and who later became an authority on vegetable dyes and their use. I once had a copy of her useful little booklet on the subject, but cannot now locate it.

The best exposition on dyeing (for reasonably educated lay persons) that I have seen was given in a series of articles by Ted Roubal, that appeared in American Angler in ca. 1994. The slant here was on the dyeing of feathers, furs and fibres for fly tying. Dr Roubal is/was a chemist who had worked in the dye industry, so wrote with complete authority on the subject.

Burnt Ash