Eco Dyeing

Posted in Paper, Sewing by

I don’t like this weather at all. It’s cold and rainy and it seems like it’s Autumn again!

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Although we had one day (ONE day) of sunshine, which was perfect for picking plants

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to be used for Eco Dyeing.

I have been dyeing paper and fabric before, but mostly with onion skins, tea and coffee. Now I wanted to try some other plants.

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I simply placed leaves on fabric and rolled everything up, but these leaves didn’t do much except adding light yellow color to the fabric, which is beautiful,but I wanted more. 🙂

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I cooked them for a few hours.

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I did similar thing with paper, but since I didn’t have any wood, I had to use cardboard to press the paper a little. I guess it’s not the best solution, but that’s what I had.

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The winner was this tree (I’m sorry but I don’t know how it’s called, not even in my language,LOL!)

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It has gorgeous deep red leaves and I knew it’s going to be great for dyeing.

The fabrics turned out very interesting, a bit messy but I like that.

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There were some nice prints

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But the paper is amazing!

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I cooked it for a few minutes and then left it to cool completely before opening it. The colors are incredible!

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I’m happy happy happy! I’ll use them for making journals (of course), and I already have a new batch of leaves ready for dyeing cotton lace and even more fabric. The fun never stops,LOL!

 

 

17 thoughts on “Eco Dyeing”

  1. It looks like you are having fun Sonja, I have a lot of very old books here on dyeing with plants,please let me know if I can look anything up for you.Of course I know most info is now accessible on the internet.Mum used to use plants to dye wool for spinning and weaving.

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  2. fabulous fun. I like eco-dyeing and seeing what results I might get from various things. I haven’t done any for awhile, so you’ve inspired me to try something. I love how the paper turned out. Yummy.

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    • I’m kinda obsessed with it right now, always brewing something on the stove. 🙂 It’s not as easy as it seems though. The colors don’t always turn up as I want them. But it sure is fun, and no matter what the result is it’s always beautiful.

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  3. You Are such an inspiration. I used to make plant fibre paper with Paper makers who had the appropriate machines then I moved away and thou, that is the end of that. You have just shown me another way…bravo and thank you. You have also reminded me not to have blinkers on.

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  4. It seems we are immersed in the same things at the moment. I too am into eco dyeing. Almost every day there is something brewing on the stove 🙂

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  6. Wonderful results, Sonija. I like the dyed papers. What kind of paper did you used because the effects are gorgeous? The papers was boiled in water? I didnt understand well…sorry.

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    • Thank you Carmina! The papers were boiled in water for a short time, then left to cool before opening them carefully. The paper was an old typewriter paper I had for a long time, very thin and delicate. 🙂

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  10. Love your papers so much! They look great, really nice colors. We also have some red leaves trees around here where I live, I’ll try those myself. Unfortunately, we don’t have eucalyptus or other “exotic” stuff which I saw that give gorgeous prints, so we have to do with less. For me, the wild blackberry leaves worked the best so far. But I’m a total beginner…

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