Flowers and plants for making dye

[jenn_sc]

Does anyone here grow dye plants? I am becoming interested in this as I continue learning to knit. A nearby farm raises sheep and has wonderful skeins of plain wool yarn for sale. It is supposed to be high in lanolin and will take dyes easily. In fact, they have some skeins dyed subtle colors with walnut shells, Queen Anne's lace, and golden rod.

I love the idea of growing flowers/plants/herbs for dye! If anyone knows anything about this topic I would love to hear about it!!!! There must be lots of plants that could be used this way.

Jennifer

[lavandula girl]

Tons of herbs can be used for this. Depending on the mordant you use, and which part of the plant, you can get several colors from one plant, too. Here's a few ideas - the mordants are in parentheses:

Golden Marguerite :Yellow (tin), Orange (chrome)
Madder: Chinese red (Alum), Orange (tin)
Oregon Grape: Violet (alum), Tan (chrome)
Sage: Yellow (chrome), Gray green (iron)
Woad: Blue (none), Pink (alum)
Dock: yellow (alum), Red (chrome)

A good basic list can be found in the Rodale's Encyclopedia of Herbs. Whatever you do, keep good records, so that you canreplicate formulas once you've found the colors you like!