# dying wool with plants



## lambs.are.cute (Aug 15, 2010)

Hi, 

Does anybody dye they wool with plants? I am looking for seeds for dye plants - espicially madder and indigo, which I cannot find on the interenet. 

Also I would love to know what plants you have used, how the dying was done (with mordant), and what color it produced. i found lists of what plant makes what color but they never include what mordant was used.


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## frazzlehead (Aug 23, 2005)

Try Richter's, they are Canadian and have a huge selection of dye plants. A few can't be sent to the US, but their catalogue is excellent.


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## marinemomtatt (Oct 8, 2006)

This WONDERFUL place sells seeds and some plants online. It's Thyme Gardens, they are located along the Alsea highway here in Oregon http://www.storesonline.com/site/561124/page/889133 I don't have a single complaint about anything I've ordered from them.

I've just begun playing with natural dyes, so far I've only used Black Walnut hulls and the nuts themselves after fermenting them for many weeks. The good thing about BW is that you don't need a mordant. 
Soon I'll be trying out some White Oak bark that's been fermenting for a couple months...also no mordant needed.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Be careful when you plant some of these. Check with your state or county extension agent before buying or planting. Some dye plants are considered noxious weeds and or invasive and some are actually illegal to plant. Just a word of warning.


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## lambs.are.cute (Aug 15, 2010)

thanks, I have already checked and can't have woad :sob: because they grow canola in my area.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Just curious, what's the connection between Canola and Woad?

Some of these plants may be grown in containers so they don't spread. Would that be an option for you?


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## lambs.are.cute (Aug 15, 2010)

they are really close siblings and will cross pollenate each other. Since they harvest canola seeds for the oil and the woad has horrible oil seeds they really don't want the cross pollenation. 

Containers are totally an option. I have a garden in my living room over winter so I would just have to get rid of or shuffle around some of my plants.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Maybe you could snip and flower buds on the woad. I think it's the leaves you use anyway, but I'm not sure about that.


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## lambs.are.cute (Aug 15, 2010)

I thought about that too but they specifically state that you can't have the plant........... and if you can't have flowers you have to always buy seeds (they will NOT mail them to Washington state) so I would have to mail them to somebody else and ask them to at least bend the law.......... Oh well I guess that I will have to get indigo..... It makes a better blue but is harder to get they dye out. 

Yes it is just the leaves.


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## sheepish (Dec 9, 2006)

I have Leah Casselman's book, "Craft of the Dyer." If you have specific questions about dye plants. I would be glad to do a lookup.

Unfortunately, the only light-fast colours most plants give are some shade of yellow to green, including grayed down shades of those colours. Apparently your soil may make a big difference to the colour you get, especially from flowers and fruit.

Are you in the more temperate part of Washington (zone 6 or above)? You might be able to grow true madder, but it will take a few years to get enough root to make dye. Indigo is frost-tender, but could be grown as an annual.


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## lambs.are.cute (Aug 15, 2010)

yah I am from at least a zone six and I have areas that pansy bloom all winter so I think that the madder would be fine. The problem is I cannot find any true madder. 

As a side note I have heard that tomato stems and leaves will produce a beautiful blue but I don't know how to do it........

Thanks


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