Finding Local Colour
making the case for a more ethical dye plant.
If you go searching for “natural dyes” recently what comes up first is using avocado. I get it, they create a nice pink, they are easy to find in the grocery store, and they are a pretty popular food . But here in the Global North, we don’t grow them. We rely on others to bring them into our grocery stores. They are so popular now, you find them everywhere.
so what’s the problem?
The problem comes when we in the west make a food popular that doesn’t grow here, it creates alot of problems for the people who live in the places it does grow. I encourage you to look up the political and environmental impact of avocados. Its heavy. I don’t share this to cause guilt or shame. We don’t know , what we don’t know. But once we know, we can do better as natural dyers. In my opinion avocado is not an ethical or sustainable choice for me living in Southern Ontario.
So, may I present to you, an alternative for that dusty rose pink, for those where the Conifers grow abundantly….
The Case for Rosy Pink From Coniferous Cones instead of Avocados in Natural Dyeing.
(The title need work!!)
This winter in Southern Ontario, has been a relatively mild one. we’ve had quite a few big thaws, which allowed for foraging for dye material well into December. Conifer cones are easy to spot once everything has died back for the winter. Forest floors can be full of them, and they hold together really well under the snow. I decided for ease sake, to not focus on just one type of cone, but to gather a bunch of different cones, as I came across them for this sampling.
Identifying the cones, without remembering the trees I found them under, took quite a bit of searching. Im almost 100% sure, the above are right, but I could be wrong so lets say 99% sure! If you have any great identification tricks up your sleeve Id love to hear them!! I am not a tree identifying wizard. I am learning as I travel the natural dye path. Find tree ID books for your areas, internet search, ask strangers in the forest… Have fun with it. Embrace the absolute confusion of tree identification! ( maybe thats just me)
the process
To help break down the plant material , I like to soak cones for a day or two in water, before boiling them.
I choose to not chop up the cones. I leave them whole in the dye bath. If you like the extra work, you can chop them up. I’ve never found it makes much of a difference in the outcome of colour.
I let the cones soak for 2 days, before bringing them to a simmer for 2 hours . I used tap water, and I have pretty hard tap water.
The fabric I use is a hemp/organic cotton blend. Some of the pieces I mordanted with oak gall and alum acetate, some just mordanted with alum acetate(AA)
After this trial, I will probably not bother with the extra tannin ( oak gall) but Ill decide for sure, after a light fast test.
I choose to not strain the dye liquid from the cones. I left the cones in the dye pot the entire time. Be aware that cones can have sap and that sap will probably get stuck onto your fabric if you keep the cones in!! I do find winter don’t have so much sap left. The fresh one will have plenty. You’ve been warned!
I collected & used 966 grams of various cones for this dye pot. For no other reason, than thats how much I had. If you were looking to be more specific , I would probably start with 2: 1 ratio of cones to (dry) fabric.
The first batch of fabric that went into the dye bath was 400grams, & was simmered with the cones for 2 hours, then left to cool in the dye bath.
The second batch of fabric, which was also 400grams went into the dye pot the next day. Only needing to top up the pot with more water, before simmering the cones and fabric together for 2 hours.
In the 1st dip there isnt much of a difference between the oak gall & AA treated hemp, and just the AA treated hemp. The second dip, there is a slight difference. The AA only fabric is a little more pink.
Coniferous cones have a good amount of tannin, which gives the opportunity to shift the colour with iron or rusty things. Below is a piece of hemp that was dyed during the send dye bath , then shifted with an iron bath.
If you know me, you know my main love is to cover fabric with plant material and let the story of the leaves decorate the fabric, naturally, I wanted to see how printing over Cones would go. I think it went pretty well!!
One dye pot of 966 grams of cones went really far. I also used the dye pot to boil some other leaf print bundles in , and to tannin some rope for baskets, which I shifted to that soft purple/ grey. I will happily continue saving cones through out the year!
What do you think? would you try cones? Do you have different cones around where you live? If you’re living in the northern part of North America, Have I brought you over to the non- avocado as dye plant side?!
Maybe you live somewhere else, where there is no conifer cones or avocado… Do you have a sweet dusty rose dye source? I love to hear from you!
Thanks for being here & reading along sweet humans.
xo Julia