Five Flowers For Inks & Dyes

growing natural dyesnatural dyestextilesforagingflowersinks

2 Jun

Here are five of my favourite dye and ink plants. These are all plants you can easily grow in the UK. I find that all flowers will give some pigment, but not all plants will give vibrant distinctive colours.

Buddleia - This is a perennial woody shrub/tree that grows commonly in urban industrial edges and gardens. The flowers start to bloom in June and continue throughout the Summer. The flowers are very abundant making it possible to gather large quantities without depleting the supply for the butterflies and bees who also love them. All the flowers, regardless whether they are pink, white, or yellow give a bright yellow dye. This is effective with an aluminium based mordant on silk and wool. You can also do bundle dyeing with the flowers as the flowers release their pigment quickly.

Roses - All plants in the rose family are high in tannin. This means that they will react with iron to give black. Roses also give pinks, yellows, and greens. I use roses for bundle dyeing to create soft pink and black patterns. I have also got interesting yellow effects when using cotton mordanted with aluminium acetate. Rose petals work well in the lake pigment process, giving a large quantity of green pigment that is reactive with mild acids, metals.

Dyer’s Coreopsis (coreopsis tinctoria) - This tender annual plant has yellow and red flowers that give a vibrant orange dye, ink, and paint. I grow these flowers from seed each year. The plants are prolific, giving new flowers every day. The petals give off colour very readily meaning you only need one or two plants to have enough to give an effect.

Marigold (Tagetes spp) - These flowers are commonly grown all around the world for their bright colours. They are called ‘insectories” as they attract insects to them, making them a useful addition to an organic garden. The flowers give a beautiful mustard yellow colour on textiles, and a green or yellow ink. I sow the seed in April, pot on in May, and then plant out the young plants in my garden in June. The more you harvest the flowers, the more flowers come.

Dahlia Flowers - Dahlias are tender perennials that can survive outside all year round in milder climates. I keep my dahlias in the ground all year round, ensuring they are well mulched and the tubers are low enough beneath the soil to protect them from the frost. You can get dahlias in many different colours, and the different flowers give many different colours when dyeing and ink making. Not always the colour you expect. The colours are also sensitive to pH, meaning that the same flower can give different colours depending on the pH of the water. I love dark purple dahlias as these can give greens. Oranges are commonly produced from many dahlia flowers.

If you would like to learn more, check out the online courses I offer.