Transcripts
1. Introduction: Something I love about botanical dye besides the brilliant hues we can create
is that it is so sustainable. We are working
with 100% biodegradable materials here. Hi, I'm Geraldine,
and today we are going to learn all about botanical dye. We're going to make a few different botanical dyes
with ingredients most likely already in your kitchen, and we're going to use
those botanical dyes to breathe new life into old garments
and refresh linens. Until the mid-19th century,
when synthetic dye was created, all color came from natural sources like plants, minerals, shellfish, even insects. By the way, do you like my outfit? I'm dressed from head to toe
in botanical dyes. These are garments that I have dyed
with fresh golden rod and marigold and sold through a shop
that I opened with my dear friend, Sarah Elizabeth Buckner, last year. We started an experimental textile studio
called Sunblood, and we focus on sacred adornment
and botanical dye. In today's class, we are going to be working
with turmeric dye, onion skins, and black tea, to cox warm taupes, orangey pinks, and bright golden yellows. Every dye pot is an invitation
to let go of expectations and enjoy the process. No dye pot is the same
and the possibilities are endless. Join me in the next video to get started.
2. Class Project & Materials: Let's explore the botanicals
that we'll be working with today a little deeper. I chose three botanicals
that are readily available in most kitchens and that attach to cloth readily
without a mordant. Mordant is a French word
meaning 'biting' or 'caustic'. In botanical dye,
it's a metallic substance used in the dye process to improve color fastness
and extend the range of color possibilities. Dyes made with mordants are less likely
to fade with sun exposure, frequent washing, or time. Common mordants are iron, aluminum, and copper. Mordants are not as safe and sustainable as the botanical materials
that we'll be working with, and frankly, they require an entirely different level of safety
and a different set of designated tools. Because we are not using mordants today, our fabric will eventually
fade in color a little bit. However, I think it's wonderful
to have a regular ritual of botanical dye. If it means that I can use pots from my own kitchen
because the process is entirely food safe, that's even more wonderful. Synthetic dye is harmful to the environment
and humans at high concentrations. Think about the factory workers who are exposed
to synthetic dyes in high concentrations, it's toxic for them. Oftentimes, in the manufacturing process, synthetic dye leaks into our waterways,
polluting them. So for us to re-learn this ancient and,
until very recently, widespread practice of botanical dye, it's just the best thing
that we can do for our environments. By the way, it's super fun. Let's talk about the botanicals
that we will be working with today. First, we have turmeric root powder. This is the root of the Curcuma longa plant, and it gives us bright, clear yellows. You probably have turmeric root powder
in your pantry. Even though this gives us
this beautiful, bright, golden yellow very quickly, it does fade over time
with or without a mordant. Despite this tendency to fade quickly, turmeric root has been used
for centuries in India as a dye. Typically, we use the weight of a garment to the weight of plant material
that we're dyeing with. That's when we're working
with fresh plants. Because we're working
with dried plant material today, it will be more like, say we have a t-shirt
that weighs 80 grams, we'll measure out about 40 grams of turmeric root
to dye that shirt. If you don't have a scale, no problem, I have estimates, and we can certainly just use our eyes
and see what colors we're getting. When we're working with botanical dye, it's always an experiment. Sometimes I do commissions for people, say, dyeing linens, or dresses for a wedding, or a special event. I always have a disclaimer
at the bottom of my email that says, "Yes, we can work to get that color family, but I cannot guarantee you a shade." That is just the nature of botanical dye, and honestly,
it's something I really love about it. One tip I'll give you
is buy pH neutral laundry soap. This will help your garments not fade over time. Next, let's talk about onion skins. This is one of the few botanicals
that I don't weigh, and that's because I just take the skins
every time I'm cutting an onion for a recipe and I put that outer skin
in a bag in my freezer. When that bag is overflowing with onion skins, I know it's time to make a dye pot. I'll also take some skins from that bag
and put them in my broths, my bone broths or my veggie stock, to give it a nice golden color
and impart that amazing onion aroma. Onions can give a wide variety of colors, from orange pinks to bright oranges, to greens,
depending on the mordant used. We love interrupting the waste stream
and working with byproducts from our kitchen
to make beautiful, brilliant botanical dyes. Lastly, we'll be working with black tea, the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant. The bagged tea is actually really wonderful to work with for dye
because it's practically powdered in there. That makes it so
that the color develops very quickly, and we get beautiful dark-red dye pots. That dark red dye pot will turn into a warm taupe
when you put a garment inside of it. The tools that you'll need
for today's class project are turmeric powder, or the outer skins of onion, or black tea. If you've never done a botanical dye project before, you might want to choose
just one botanical to learn the process. If you've already dipped your toe
into natural dyeing, go ahead and be ambitious and try all three. You'll also need some big stock pots. Since we're not using mordants, you can feel free to use pots
from your kitchen. If you're working with onion skins
or black tea, you might also need
a strainer when you're going to strain out the dye pot
from the pot brewing. I also recommend that you use a long, wooden spoon for stirring the pot, which we'll be doing frequently. You'll also need a tub
to soak your garments. You could also use a sink or a bathtub. Of course, you'll need a piece of cloth
that you want to dye. When we are working
on a botanical dye project, we work with 100% natural fibers. Today,
we are going to be using vegetable fibers, so think 100% cotton, linen, hemp,
any of those will work perfectly. Synthetic materials like polyester
don't grab onto dye very well, so we just won't use them. Protein fibers like wool and silk
also work great for botanical dye, but the process is a little different. So today,
let's focus on vegetable fibers like cotton, linen, and the hemp. You'll also want to make sure
that the garment or cloth that you choose
is white or at least, neutral hued so that you can really see
that color develop and hold onto it. A few optional tools that you can use
for today's class project are a kitchen scale. Again, you can totally eyeball this project, but if you have a kitchen scale
and you want to get exact, you can absolutely bring that
to your workshop table. You can also use a thermometer. I almost never bring a dye pot
to a full boil. You can eyeball this, and when you start to see bubbles forming, turn off the heat
and remove it from the stove. But if you want to be exact, and you want to see
just when it's getting to 180, you can absolutely use a thermometer. I love using this scientific thermometer. You can also use rubber bands
or string to bundle up your garment
and make awesome botanical tie-dyes. You can make all kinds of fun patterns with them, and I'll show you how I do that. Of course, you can definitely just dip it in
and get solid color. That's really fun too. Lastly, I will recommend that you wear
an apron or old clothes because it's very likely that you will get stains on the outfit you are wearing
when engaging in this project. I will have to be extra careful today
because this is one of my favorite outfits. I mentioned in the last video
that I'm a bio-regional botanical dyer and herbalist, so I also want to share with you
some of my favorite plants to make color with, in case you're planning your garden
or thinking about what to grow next year. Obviously, I love orange and yellow. So to get that color, I grow goldenrod, marigold, dyer's coreopsis, and cosmos. If I'm looking for reds and pinks, which I also love, I grow the madder plant, and I use the root. If I'm looking for a blue hue, I'll grow Japanese indigo
and use the leaves. If I'm looking for a green, I grow comfrey
and use the leaves in combination with a homemade iron mordant
made out of rusty nails. I recommend the book Wild Color
by Jenny Dean, for a comprehensive guide
to botanical dyes and processes. Do you have your tools set, your botanical ready to go, and your garment picked out? If so, meet me in the next video
to get started.
3. Brewing the Dye Pots: It's almost time
to brew our botanical dye pot. First, we have to prep our fabric. To prep the fabric, we weigh each item individually
while it is still dry. Once it's weighed,
if you have a scale that is, and if you don't, don't worry, in the notes of this class, I'm going to give you a list
of rough estimates of say, a t-shirt, a pair of socks, a pair of underwear, a tea towel. I'll list all of those weights for you. Once you have that ready to go, you're going to want to scour your fabric. We can do a quick and easy scouring version
in this class, that is just take your cloth
or your garment and run it through a long hot wash cycle
with pH neutral soap. If I was doing a professional dye job
and I really wanted to make sure
I was exquisitely scouring the garment, I would put it
in a pot on my stove full of soda ash water and bring it
to just under a boil for an hour. This would make sure that any residue from the manufacturing process
was no longer on that garment. However, for this class, I think that running your garment through the long hot wash cycle will work just fine
for your scouring process. After you run your garment
through the wash cycle, soak it in a tub of water. If you don't have a big bowl like this, you can just plug up your sink or bathtub
and soak your garment in there. This soaking step is really important, so don't skip it. Soaking your garment for at least an hour
makes sure that the garment is fully saturated. When you dip it into the dye pot, it will uptake the color evenly. Now, we are making our first dye pot. We are going to be making
an onion skin dye pot. In this pot, I have probably a pound of frozen onion skins from my freezer
that I've been collecting over about six months. I'm going to put these last-minute ones
in there as well. I have water up to about here
and I'm going to stir it around and cook it on my stove for about an hour. This dye pot is the one I'm going to brew
for the longest. I'm going to keep it at about 180 degrees. If you don't have a scale, that's just under boiling,
before those bubbles start beginning to form. I'm going to keep it there
for about an hour. If I have all the time in the world, I will let my dye pot fully cool. I'll remove it from the stove, remove it from the heat source
and let it fully cool before streaming it
and adding my garments. But if you don't have that much time, you can at least just make sure
that your dye pots steeps for about an hour. I'll check back in shortly
and show you the beautiful jewel-toned color
that we're going to get out of this dye pot. Now that the onion dye pot
is brewing on the stove, it's time to show you
how to make a black tea dye pot. I'm going to be weighing a garment in here
that's about 90 grams. I actually did something experimental
and I put a little bit more tea
than was necessary in here. Half of 90 is 45, and I could have gotten away
with just about 45 grams of tea in here. However, I brought it up to 100 grams because I have loads of black tea
I'm not drinking. I think that it's going to give me
an extra dark rich color. I have my black tea and my water in here, I'm stirring it around. I'm going to bring it to my stove
and bring it to just under a simmer
for only 15 minutes. That's all I really need to brew
a really dark rich pot of black tea dye. If you're doing the black tea at home, all you need to do is simmer it for just under a simmer for about 15 minutes
and you'll be good to go, then remove it from the heat source, and strain out the tea bags, and reserve your liquid, of course, because that's your dye pot, and you'll be good to go. Next, I'm going to show you
a turmeric dye pot. Lastly, we are brewing up
a botanical dye pot of turmeric. When we're working with a paste, the best thing to do is to first measure out
how much you're going to use of the powder and then dissolve it
into a paste with some hot water. Put it into your pot, pour little hot water in there, make it into a nice paste
and then slowly pour in your cold water and dissolve it
into the whole bath. I'm going to be dyeing a garment
that's about 90-100 grams in this dye pot, I'm doing a flour sack like a dish towel, like one of these on the table actually. I'm going to do equal weights
turmeric powder to the dish towel. I actually put about 100 grams
of turmeric powder in here. If you're guesstimating,
if you don't have a scale, just know the more you add, the more vibrant and bright
the colors will be. If you go for less powder, it will just be a lighter color. You can always play with it
and add more or less depending on the color variation
that you want as a result.
4. Dyeing Cloth & Creating Designs: Now what we've all been waiting for, time to finally dip our cloth
into the dye pots. Each garment here has been weighed and scoured by a long wash cycle
and soaked for a few hours. They're all totally ready
to go into these dye pots. Once I put them in whole
or fold them up with my rubber bands, I'll put them in the dye pots, return them to the stove, and move them around every five minutes. I stay with them
the entire time they are on the stove, and I recommend you do the same. If you just let your garment
or piece of cloth sit in the dye pot
without moving it around while it's brewing, it will have
all kinds of inconsistencies in color. When you're using your spoon
to move it around in the dye pot, you'll be allowing that color
to get more evenly distributed. Here we go. The first garment I will dip
is this very gauzy light blouse. I'm squeezing any excess water. It will still be damp, of course, but just squeezing excess water. Let me show you this beautiful shirt, a favorite of mine,
before we dip it in the onion pot. I actually wore this shirt
for part of a Gardening 101 class that I did for Skillshare. Maybe you can check that out, and I guess I'm just refreshing it
for a whole new season. Here we go. Wow. Up close, I can already see a little bit of pink
is attaching to the shirt. That's just going to get deeper and deeper
as it brews, but I'll show you. Wow, it's like
this gorgeous peachy colors already happening. That is so beautiful. That is going to just keep brewing in there
for a whole hour. I'm going to return it to the stove
and just stay with it, moving it every couple of minutes, maybe putting on a podcast, listening to a song, just staying in the kitchen, keeping an eye on everything. You will want to keep in mind
that once your garment has dried, it will be a few shades lighter
than the color it's presenting when it's wet. I'm going to dye one of these flour sacks, this is a cotton flour sack. These are what I use
instead of paper towels in my kitchen. This is my kitchen linens, and they're so absorbent, so they're really good for dyeing, 100% cotton here. If you want them for your kitchen, they're called flour sacks. That's how you can search for them. They're just really absorbent
and do a great job. I'm folding it in a funny way, getting all of that water out, and then I'm going to do
a technique I call sunbursting to get some fun designs going on. Here's the whole cloth. I'm going to take the center. I have it,
I'm holding it by the center, and this doesn't have to be exact, but I'm trying to hold the center of it. Then I'm taking a rubber band
and I'm going to tightly tie it around the center. The larger you want the circle, the further you should go down. If you want just a tiny circle
in the center, you can tie it off at the top. But I want a big circle in the center,
a big sunburst. I am going to do this right here. For fun, I'm just going to do another one.
Why not? Let's experiment. Get some cool shapes going on. I'm going to just add another one
a little further down, and we'll just see what happens. So fun after an hour of letting these cloths
brew and develop darker and darker color, it's so fun doing the reveal
and seeing what awesome patterns, one of a kind patterns we've created. I have two rubber bands on this guy. Maybe I'll tie off one more. See this edge right here? Sometimes it's fun on the edges
to create a little bit of a line. This is the very edge
of the fabric, a corner. I'm just going to tie it off right here. I know that will give me
a cool little triangle at the base. This is ready for the pot of turmeric. Woah, are you kidding me? Look at that beautiful color already. That is just going to continue to develop over this hour
that I'm going to let this sit in their dye pots. An hour, I would say is the minimum. But if you have time and want to leave your garments
in the dye pot overnight, I highly recommend you do that. The longer you can leave it
in the dye pot, the longer the color will develop. So gorgeous, looking so good. Now I have another one. I have another cotton flour sack
that I'm going to wring out and then put in my tea bath. I can't wait to see
the cloth that you're dyeing at home. I hope that you will share with us
in the comments your incredible, homemade experimentations. I can't wait to see what designs
you intuitively create. I wrang out that water. This time,
I'm going to try something a little different. I think I'm going to fold this like so,
like I'm folding a quilt, and then I'm going to wrap it one this way, then this way, just back and forth. It's okay if it's messy. There we go. I just have this folded piece of cloth
that I am going to rubber band closed. This might give us some cool striping,
we'll see. Always down for experimentation
when it comes to botanical dye. It's what makes it fun, in my opinion. I'm curious
what makes botanical dye fun for you? It's the sustainable part of it? If it's the part
that you're just literally working with plants, or if it's that you got to just
let go of expectations and enjoy the process. Wow, look at that ombre, look at that change of color. Oh, that's so nice already. Do you see what I mean by warm taupe? Something about this color is just so warm. I love it, so cozy. I'm going to let it dip all the way in.
There we go. We have garments in each one of these pots
beginning to develop. I will come back in about an hour
and show you the results. I'll see you in the next video.
5. The Reveal: Botanically Dyed Cloth: Hey everyone, welcome back. It's time to check out the results
of our botanical dye experiments. An hour has elapsed, in which time
I was brewing these pots on the stove, stirring them every couple minutes, making sure that the fabric
wasn't sitting in one place, there weren't air bubbles
sitting above the surface level, just basically checking on them
the whole time. Now, I've brought them back
to the table from the stove, so that I can do a big reveal with you. Let's check out the turmeric pot first. You remember that I put a cloth in here, just a white table linen. One of my kitchen napkins, really my cloth napkins. You can see
I'm squeezing the color out of it, I'm going to bring it here over my big bowl
and I'm going to take off those rubber bands and we'll see
what kind of design they made. A little tricky in my big gloves, which I should mention
I'm wearing because these pots are very hot. At home, you will just let your cloth
sit in there for an hour, and then you don't have to touch it. After you've been brewing it for that hour
moving it every five minutes, once it's done brewing, you can just take it off the heat source
and let it cool down, and then you can take it out once it's fully cool
so you don't risk burning yourself. But because I have these, I do a lot of botanical dye, why not? I'll just use them, these insulated work gloves. It's going to be a little hard
to get this rubber band, but I got it. Big reveal moment, everybody. Here's the moment.
In your mind, picture that white square that you saw
just a little while ago. Wow, another little corner. I am so excited about this. This is just a beautiful result. Now I see what the turmeric did, I wonder what your turmeric looks like at home. Second, we are going to do the black tea. By the way, the next step is rinsing this in cold water and you can put it through
a wash cycle with that pH neutral soap, if you wanted just get it ready
for using in your kitchen. But usually I'll just rinse it in my sink with cold water and then hang to dry
and it will end up being a few shades lighter than this, but it will still be very rich. So we have that, and now it's time to reveal the black tea. Squeezing it and let's see. Again, this started as a white big square,
a nice flour sack, and we'll see what happens. Wow. I'm really happy with that pattern, that came out beautifully. I hope that you can play
with some bundle designs at home. Same thing,
I'm just going to rinse this in cold water, hang it out to dry
and it will be good to go. Now for my last reveal, we're looking at a beautiful blouse
that needed a little refreshing. Makes me feel
like I have a whole new garments, just with this slight color change. There was no rapping or bundling with rubber bands
for this project, just I let it sit in the pot
and evenly distribute the color. This is so pretty. I'm so surprised by the way, the lace really took that color. I guess this is a slightly different cotton
than the gauze, this lace right here. You can see that it's like several shades darker
than the rest of the shirt. Just one of the many amazing, unexpected, beautiful things
that can be pulled out of a dye pot. I'm really excited to wear this again, and it's going to be
a little bit lighter when it dries, but I'm just going to rinse it
with cold water and hang it up and probably wear it tomorrow. Thanks for sticking around
and checking out my results. I am so excited to see what you do. Join me in the next video
for a recap of our experience.
6. Recap & Suntrap: It has been so much fun, botanically dyeing with you today. This is one of my favorite activities
and it has been an honor to share it with you. If you liked what you saw today
and you want to think about maybe growing your own botanical dye plants, you should check out
my gardening 101 class on Skillshare. Who knows, maybe you'll be growing
marigolds and Japanese indigo and matter
for your own rainbow botanical dye garden. Even though I was wearing my big gloves, I still managed
to completely stain my hands with turmeric, which frankly I love. I also have a day job, a company that I started in 2015
called Suntrap Botanical. Suntrap asks the question, how can we regenerate a thriving ecology
while providing for human needs? We do that through growing gardens
full of native medicinal and edible plants, as well as making seed to bottle formulas
of tinctures and skincare. I also host an online course
called bioregional herbalism and medicine making. You might be wondering what is bioregionalism? Bioregionalism is the concept
that we can work with what is already abundantly available
in the landscape around us, rather than importing things
from all over the globe. I love to work with plants
that I'm getting fresh from outside or that are waste products
or byproducts from my kitchen, rather than importing a material in from an environment that I have no way
of knowing is in or out of balance. Bioregionalism weaves its way through my work, whether I am dyeing dresses
or brewing up botanical skincare. Follow along with my botanical journey
at suntrap.co or on Instagram at @suntrapbotanical. You can also check out
our botanical Dye work at sunblood.earth or on Instagram at @sunbl00d
with two zeros instead of Os. Thanks again for sharing this amazing afternoon with me. I really look forward to seeing your results. Until next time, bye.
Geraldine Lavin, Herbalist & Farmer
