Dyeing with native plants

By Mary Alice Garrett

This story originally appeared October 23, 2008 in The News Journal of Wilmington, Delaware.

Although green plants are all around us, not one will produce a green dye.

That was just one of the interesting facts from the "Dyes From Native Plants" course at Mt. Cuba Center.

Research horticulturist Jeanne Frett began preparing several months ago. She even froze a dye bath of goldenrod flowers "because I wasn't sure if we would have goldenrod blooming then." The frozen dye bath proved just as good as one made that day from fresh goldenrod blooms.

The course, which ran for five hours on Oct. 11, began with the nine participants scavenging for native plants and nuts. They collected coreopsis, goldenrod, black oak, osage orange, yellowroot and black walnut bark. The objective was to introduce techniques for dyeing with plants and to identify native eastern North American plant species for sources.

The dyeing process involved heating large pots of dye baths on portable burners, letting them simmer for 30 to 45 minutes, testing with a candy thermometer until the baths reached 180 degrees, using a litmus paper to check the pH and straining the dye baths through a fabric.

While cooking, the test yarn had the look of linguini bubbling in a pasta pot. The fascinating part was seeing what colors emerged from the dye baths. A few of the comments: "That looks like pumpkin orange or squash." "It's butterscotch." "It's caramel color." "No, it's tobacco color."

"It's interesting. All the colors we've made are fall colors," noted Cheryl Flanagan of Mill Creek. All were shades of yellow, gold and brown. It took two dye baths -- called "over-dyeing," to produce green and blue. Green was made from the fruit of the osage orange tree, a member of the mulberry family. Female trees produce chartreuse orange-like fruit. When mixed with indigo, an osage orange dye bath turns green. Washing soda added to a goldenrod dye bath resulted in a bright orange color.

The inner bark of a black oak tree was mixed with indigo to produce blue. Butternut dye baths produced a caramel color. Leslie Skibinski of Newark had brought a large bag of butternuts from her parents' home in Northwestern Pennsylvania. "They taste wonderful. They're very yummy," Skibinski said.

Frett said butternuts were used to dye the wool uniforms of Revolutionary War soldiers. She and a cousin raise 60 angora goats that produce mohair, so "we have a big incentive to learn how to make dyes," she said.

Most participants were knitters or weavers. Several grew up on farms. "I think they're closer to the natural plants," said Frett.

Sandy Andrews of Brandywine Hundred wanted to learn to make dyes for the handbags she makes from organic cotton. "I hear about [commercial] dyes and how terrible they are. I was thinking I'd like to do something that's more ecologically sound. I wanted a new angle."

"I knit, spin and do old-fashioned rug hooking. I've always been interested in this type of thing," said Skibinski. She will use the techniques on wool material and fleeces.

Docent Linda Shinn said her mother made her own dyes from pokeberries and onion skins for her handmade silk scarves and tie-died clothing. Shinn, who lives between Centreville and Yorklyn, knits, weaves and does macramé.

Jill Kennard, a self-described "wannabe artist," thought she could adapt the techniques to watercolor paints. "I like kind of monochromatic painting anyway," said the Hockessin resident.

Flanagan plans to make dye baths to dye wool and felt fabrics. "I sew. I knit. I'm big on scarves," she said.

Marjorie Egee has made dyes for wool fabrics that her mother uses to make hooked rugs. She recommended making large batches of each dye bath, as "repeating is difficult." Egee, of Brandywine Hundred, also photographed the process.

Centreville resident Kris Qualls said the thought of making dyes from native plants "would be kind of exciting." She likes to try non-traditional things like pickling -- at least once. A Mt. Cuba docent for 10 years, she also knits children's sweaters and makes felted handbags.

"I would like to weave. That's in my future," said Ann Holloway of Newark.

Newark knitter and docent Audrey Williams was happy with the course. "Everybody is really enthused. We have a perfect day for it."

"I've enjoyed it very much. It's a gorgeous place -- excellent teachers," added Skibinski.

"We've done well, ladies," Frett said at the conclusion of the course. All left with dye source plants and small charts with samples of the colors they had made. They were given instructions on how to make dyes at home, along with key Web sites.

IF YOU DYE

The lowly goldenrod was not only the first native North American dye for English and French settlers but a source of rubber as well. In seeking a domestic source for rubber, Thomas Edison considered the goldenrod to be best. Reportedly, his friend Henry Ford gave Edison a Model T with tires made from goldenrod-based rubber. The notion that goldenrods cause hay fever is untrue. The real culprit, say horticulturists, is ragweed.

• Helpful sites include the nonprofit Natural Dyes International from New Mexico (www.naturaldyes.org), a textiles site (www.faena.medievaltextiles.org/dye.html) and a Welsh blog (http://growingcolour.blogspot.com).

• For a list of upcoming courses at Mt. Cuba, go to www.mtcubacenter.org.