the Denver Dyer

This spring I tried my first attempt at achieving black cotton with natural dyes. Coaxing the fabric to absorb layer after layer of colors was a very fun experiment and is just the beginning of a journey into richer, darker hues.  In the first picture I have the same fabric, undergoing the same dye process, with the darker cotton simply soaked in the dye bath longer by 2 or 3 weeks. I found an article on botanicalcolors.com that gives a detailed recipe for a European black dye that includes iron, tannin, and logwood.  There is a shimmering quality to the...

I was so excited to witness all the plant life in Costa Rica last summer that I brought a scoured and mordanted piece of cotton and some string so that I might bundle dye a bandana from the fallen flowers I come across. Let me be clear I had no intention and did not remove any plant matter from any forests, I only collected flowers along roadsides and neighborhoods that had fallen, along with 1 achiote pod from the farm I stayed on, with permission.  So, during our first week, I gathered bright crimson hibiscus, bougainvillea, and other bold and...

One of the goals I gave myself this year is to learn and develop the skills of more printing techniques. One of these techniques is a resist printing using a clay paste. I made the clay paste that can be thickened or thinned for painting or printing, and tested it by painted on a madder root dyed napkin. Once the clay dries, I dipped it into an indigo vat. After a couple minutes, I pulled out the napkin, and rinsed it. The clay prevents the indigo from grabbing into the painted areas, dyeing all other areas blue.  I have a...

This is the second summer I have grown the variety persicaria tinctoria. I have a small plot, about 5′x3′ in my right of way by the street. The plants are now blooming beautiful hot pink flowers and collecting these leaves mid to late September will be my third harvest of leaves. With what I’ve grown I have been able to dye 3 shirts, a lb. or so of yarn, and attempt a pigment extraction process. The first time didn’t work, so I’ll harvest the last leaves after they are done going to seed and attempt the process again. Deep blues...