Natural Dye: Dyeing Green

In this video, I go over the steps I use to dye things green with natural plant dyes.
www.barrowsandwights.com
IG: barrowsandwights
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Transcripts for videos are available on my website.
Notes:
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General Dye Equipment:
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*NEVER MIX DYE EQUIPMENT WITH COOKING EQUIPMENT*
Many of the plants and chemicals used in dyeing are TOXIC. If you use a utensil, pot, or other equipment for dyeing, DO NOT USE THAT ITEM TO MAKE FOOD.
- Dedicated pot for dyeing
- Source of heat. I use an induction burner.
- Digital scale
- Spoon
- Tongs
- Strainer
- Measuring cup or some other vessel to measure and dissolve dye/chemicals
Dyeing Yellow:
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- Soak materials in room temperature water before dyeing.
- Heat water over med/low heat 175 F/79.4 C. Dissolve in 8% dry materials' weight of Alum for mordanting.
- Add materials to mordant bath and cook for about an hour.
- Remove yarn from mordant bath.
- Cook dried marigolds in clear water for about an hour at med/low heat (175 F/79.4 C).
- Strain out marigolds, leaving dye water in the pot.
- Add materials to dye and cook for about an hour at med/low heat (175 F/79.4 C)
- Let materials cool. I usually let things sit overnight.
Dyeing Blue:
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I use the following recipe from Dharma Trading Co for indigo dye using pre-reduced indigo crystals:
www.dharmatrading.com/dyes/pr...
Soda ash and Thiourea Dioxide used in this recipe were also purchased from Dharma Trading Co.
Additional equipment I recommend for indigo dyeing specifically:
- a plastic 5 gallon bucket
- a big stick for stirring
- a space outside for dyeing
- a thermometer to measure the temperature of the water
Yarn/Materials Dyed:
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5 100g bare Targhee wool skeins from Green Mountain Spinnery
5 100g previously dyed blue Targehee wool skeins from Green Mountain Spinnery
www.spinnery.com/
Approximately 4 yards of a thin yellow cotton fabric I bought on ebay
Approximately 25 g of white cotton yarn
One 100 g BFL skein of yarn to use up the last of the yellow dye
One scrap of cotton fabric to use up the last of some pink dye from a previous dye project
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Attributions:
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Title Card:
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Photo by Anton Atanasov
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Logo designed and drawn by A.R. Gergler
Video:
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Farming a Field of Yellow Flowers by Kresimir Divic
www.pexels.com/video/farming-...
Video by Katy Landers: www.pexels.com/video/aerial-v...
Video by Teona Swift: www.pexels.com/video/thick-fo...
Images:
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Shisha-Tom, CC BY-SA 3.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/..., via Wikimedia Commons
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:In...
Kurt Stüber [1], CC BY-SA 3.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/b..., via Wikimedia Commons
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:In...
Stefan.lefnaer, CC BY-SA 4.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/..., via Wikimedia Commons
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Frédéric Neupont au Muséum du Pastel de Toulouse-Labège, CC BY-SA 4.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/..., via Wikimedia Commons
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pa...
Background Music:
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Music: Celtic Ambiance by Alexander Nakarada
Free download: filmmusic.io/song/9030-celtic...
License (CC BY 4.0): filmmusic.io/standard-license
Artist website: www.serpentsoundstudios.com/
End Screen:
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Photo by Anton Atanasov
www.pexels.com/photo/landscap...

[@andriuhee2710]

A quick tip for anyone who wants to grow indigo; there is also a different type of indigo called Japanese indigo (Persicaria tinctoria) that is more cold hardy than true indigo and dyes the same color! It's actually a plant in the buckwheat family, and even though it does like it hot, it's not a tropical plant. It's been used as a dye in Japan for centuries.

[@barrowswights801]

Thanks for the info!

[@bestcrossroad]

Thank you!

[@janemorrow6672]

Please do more dyeing and more weaving. Your videos are very well produced and very relaxing considering what you are doing has some rather complex aspects to it.

[@barrowswights801]

Thank you! I don't currently have active plans for more dyeing, but I'm keeping it in mind when I look at what projects I want to work on next. I have no doubt there will be more weaving in the future.

[@TiffBishop-ww8br]

You are so precise and do so well at this I really hope you have a small business for naturally dying materials for people. Great talent😊 Just also have to add..that blue color was beautiful ❤

[@barrowswights801]

I do not have a small business, but thank you for the compliment!

[@reidunaspester2809]

I have dyed wool with walnutshells and got medium brown color😊 This was a very interesting video! 👌

[@barrowswights801]

Thanks!

[@anitapeura3517]

I've read that traditionally, in Europe, Lincoln green was produced by dyeing with weld (yellow) then woad (blue). I've also seen a lovely apple green produced with privet berries. I haven't yet tried that myself but have gathered berries and frozen them for later use. I've done a little indigo dyeing before, and avocado and onion skins. Different mordants will give different shades of colour, though I think indigo doesn't need mordanting.

[@anitapeura3517]

I meant to add, thanks for the lovely video!

[@barrowswights801]

Thanks for watching! You are correct, indigo doesn't need mordanting. Indigo and woad actually function the same way as a dye, which is different from most other natural dyes. I can't remember which book I was reading that talked about the science of it (years ago, lol), but it's pretty neat stuff!

[@KackyMuse]

Thank you, thank you so much for your dedication to your craft. Your dried marigolds look wonderful. Thank you for the math. Thank you for the wonderful colors you have achieved.

[@nancyskinner5207]

I’ve done some natural dying over the years. I find it exciting! That indigo vat dyed an enormous amount of fiber. It is beyond beautiful! I’d love to see more dying videos. Thank you for sharing your work.

[@barrowswights801]

Thanks for watching! If I had more things that I needed to dye, I could have kept going with that dye vat. Indigo is a pretty incredible dye

[@user-ol8mr4cc5q]

Thanks for the video. I suggest ivy leaves for dying, combined with iron. Makes a saturated army green.

[@melaniebedoya6042]

What type of ivy?

[@user-ol8mr4cc5q]

@@melaniebedoya6042 We live in the Netherlands and have ivy growing on our fence. Nothing fancy, run of the mill ivy with big leaves. I trimmed it, took the leaves without stems and cut them up. I used about 3 times the weight of the dry wool in ivy leaves. Simmered them in water and after 1 hour simmering, let cool overnight. I then added mordanted wool (alum and cream of tartar) and simmered wool+leaves. The colour was boring, so I added iron (up to max 2% ferrous sulfate per 100 g) until I was satisfied with the colour. The wool is a bit coarse, but that may also be due to the long simmering and some times bowling (no thermostat, just a big pot on a hot plate)

[@user-ol8mr4cc5q]

Recipe based on the book 'wild color' by Jenny Dean. A fantastic book on plant dyeing!

[@thecutleryrepublic6418]

All the colors are so pretty!☺️

[@barrowswights801]

Thanks!

[@traditionalcooking8482]

thank you so much ..very informative as j.m just started this natural dye journey ...i did block printing with alum and tree gum n then dye the fabric in madder .ketachu .annoto seed ...n and soo facinated ..indigo is my dream and am so happy i came across your video

[@barrowswights801]

That sounds very cool! And it's pretty wild what you can use for dye. There were a couple of years where I was trying all sorts of food scraps (onion skins, avocado pits) and plants picked up from my yard or on walks and got some pretty interesting results!

[@phoebebaker1575]

I tried dying with black bean juice a long time ago. I was really excited about the purple color. Then we washed the shirt and it became brown. I’m not sure what I did wrong (30 years ago) but if I were to try again I’d watch lots of KZbin videos, first!

[@cherylstraub5970]

There is also a dyers not weed that dye blue. I believe that in Japan they used this plant for their blue dye.

[@kathrynbassett1535]

Such a good video really helpful thanks 😊 so very much. Sending good thoughts your way from Katy from NZ 😊

[@barrowswights801]

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed the video!

[@leighway1122]

Nicely done.

[@barrowswights801]

Thanks!

[@lumikkihusu7259]

Hi, nice to see your channel. The Tube's spy algorithms picked you for my suggestions after I commented on another video on dyeing green (funnily enough, that was in a completely different language). I'm also into various crafts. Mostly historical, and additionally more everyday use than fantasy. We have enough overlap, so I hit Subscribe.

[@phoebebaker1575]

I like your font!

[@malathiepahathkumbura1298]

Thank you 👍🙏

[@eleanorerosanova7538]

Beautiful 💐🦋

[@barrowswights801]

Thanks!

[@nancyskinner5207]

I’m glad I’m not the only one 13:44 who doesn’t understand the chemical process of indigo. 13:26

[@barrowswights801]

It's just so different than other dyes! It's like I can understand it when I'm reading about the process, but it just flies right out of my head once I'm not looking at the information.

[@FirnMamaMakes]

💚💚💚

[@user-ol8mr4cc5q]

Thanks for the video. I suggest ivy leaves for dying, combined with iron. Makes a saturated army green.

[@janemalins3092]

What form of iron do you use, thanks for the info too.

[@barrowswights801]

I haven't used iron for much, but what I have used a solution made from water, vinegar, and some old nails that has been left to sit for months. I wasn't thrilled with my results, but it was worth giving a try.