Madder Dye Cut or ground ~ Dye Colour a variety of reds including orange, browns, reds, brick red, blood red and fiery reds.

*Collected in the Wild of Iran

The colour depends on a variety of conditions, like the soil the roots where grown, their age, the mineral content of the water used for dyeing, the temperature of the dye pot, and how much madder you use in relation to fiber. Many dyers suggest mordanting the wool just with alum and not to use cream of tartar as well, but that is your own choice and why not try to experiment a bit? Like with any dyeing, you will need to soak the fiber overnight or for a few hours before adding them to the dye pot for both hot and cold dyeing. You can dye with madder either cold or with heat; some dyers use chalk or cream of tartar to get better reds.

Colourfastness: Excellent

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Recipe for Wool: Downloadable PDF 

Recipe for Plant fibres: Downloadable PDF

Also available as dye kit!

Basic recipe:

(You can adjust the amounts as needed)

100 grams dried madder roots (soaked overnight and blended if possible or use ground)
100 grams mordanted (Alum) fiber (50 grams for darker reds or 300 grams for lighter colors)
7 to 10 liters of water
6 grams calcium carbonate (chalk) or cream of tartar, if using

Soak the roots in the dye pot over night
Bring o 65 degrees Celsius for one hour for reds, higher temp. will go more brown
Strain through cloth
Add yarn and dye bag to dye pot
Keep on 65 - 95 degrees Celsius for one hour

**IMPORTANT: The higher the temperature the darker the colour.

Oak Gall - harvested from the wild in Turkey 

Oak Gall, also known as oak apple was and is still used for making ink. We use it as a fibre Mordant, due to its high tannin content. Unlike other tannin, it doesn't stain the fibre.  

Oak Gall is available as whole, cut or ground.

LOGWOOD ~ Available Cut or ground and as extract* 

(Bois de Campeche, Campeachy Wood) 

*Collected in the Wild (foraged) in Haiti

Logwood is a natural dye wood from Central America, used for producing blues and purples on wool, black on cotton and wool, and black and violet on silk.  

Logwood is PH sensitive.  

It is called by old dyers one of the Lesser Dyes because the colour was said to lose all its brightness when exposed to the air.

 Colour fastness: poor

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Basic Recipe: 

65g bark, soaked in water for 2 days.

100g mordanted yarn/fibre (Alum 10g)

Bring pot with dye to simmer For 2h.

Strain through cloth, add yarn/fibre and dye bag to dye bath for 1h.

Rinse.

The logwood chips should be put in a bag and boiled for 20 minutes to 1/2 an hour, just before using or soak overnight, bring to the boil in the morning for 1h, strain and bind into bag.

* When using extract you only need to use 5-10% of the weight of your dry fabric. Logwood is one of the more excessive dyes - a little goes a long way - especially when using extract.

Organic *ground, **cut or whole Hibiscus flowers 

Cultivated in Egypt.

PH sensitive, not wash or light fast. Great fun with kids or for hobby dyers. 

For a light purple colour on wool and deep pinks or green, using different mordants. 

*Use 50% of dye according to the weight of the dry fabric/fibre you would like to dye when using ground Hibiscus. 

**Use 75-100% of dye according to the weight of the dry fabric/fibre you would like to dye when using cut or whole Hibiscus. 

Colourfastness: poor
Ph sensitive: purple colour turns green with high Ph

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Hibiscus Dye Recipe wool ~ Downloadable PDF

Basic Recipe: 

This dye will need a mordant, Alum, when dyeing wool. 
10-15% of Alum. 
Mordanted fabric or yarn, 50% - 100% hibiscus dye. 

RHUBARB ROOT ~ Dye Colour depending on: yellow brown, green with iron and pink with Soda Ash.

Country of Collection: China


Rhubarb is indeed a stunning Plant – not only does it grow enormous – we can eat the stalks for desserts and use the leaves for mordanting fibre and the roots for creating 3 gorgeous colours.

Colourfastness: Good

Ph sensitive - high Ph will turn colour to a red
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Recipe for wool fibres: Downloadable PDF

Recipe for Plant Fibres: Downloadable PDF

Basic recipe:

100% cut Rhubarb or 50% ground Rhubarb
Wool (mordanted with Alum)

Optional:
3-5% Iron
15% Soda Ash

Glossy Buckthorn Bark Organic ~ Dye colour yellow golden, pinks and reds. 

*Collected in the Wild of Bosnia

To achieve reds and pinks, the PH needs to be increased to 10-11 (alkaline).  Keep in mind to always use PH neutral soap with PH sensitive colours. This dye gives a good green when iron is added and was used traditionally to make artist paint.

Colourfastness: Good

Ph Sensitive Dye

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Basic Recipe: 

65g bark, soaked in water for 2 days. 
100g mordanted yarn/fibre (Alum 13g)

Bring pot with dye to simmer For 2h.  
Strain through cloth, add yarn/fibre and dye bag to dye bath for 1h.  
Rinse.

POMEGRANATE PEELS ~ CUT & GROUND ORGANIC ~ can be used as Tannin and as yellow dye

The pomegranate is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub in the family Lythraceae, subfamily Punicoideae, that grows between 5 and 10 m tall. The pomegranate originated in the region extending from Iran to northern India and has been cultivated since ancient times throughout the Mediterranean region.

 Colourfastness: good - excellent

Recipe:

For how to mordant your Cellulose fibres, please see my blog post 

 How to mordant linen and cotton fabrics successfully – AppleOak FibreWorks

If you are using protein fibres, a simple 10%Alum bath will do for mordanting, but protein fibres can also be dyed without a mordant when using Pomegranate peel due to its tannin content.

Once mordanted:

Add 100% pomegranate peel to 80degrees Celcius Water for one hour. (100% of the dry Weight of your Fibre/Fabric) If using powder, stir regularly or it will burn the bottom of your pan.

After an hour, switch of the heat and add the fabric/fibre. Leave to up to 3 days, until desired depth of colour. 

Wash, rinse, dry.

 Pomegranate Powder can also be used as a tannin and for printing when combined with Alum and Guar Gum.

ORGANIC HAWTHORN BERRIES ~ Dye Colour original beige/yellow - with iron: silver grey, grey green

Origin: Hungary

Hawthorn berries are rich in tannin and can be used to dye wool and silk (careful with iron, if pure silk) silver grey, grey and grey green. The colour palette is soft and earthy as you can see in the yarn pictures attached. Both yarns have been dyed with hawthorn.

Colourfastness: Poor - medium
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Basic recipe:

10% Alum
100% Hawthorn
1 -3% iron

Mordant yarn with 10% Alum either hot at 85 degrees celcius (185F) for one hour, or cold for 12h-24hrs.

Extract Hawthorn for 1-2 hours at 85 degrees celcius (185F). Strain dye.

Add mordanted yarn to dye liquor and leave for 1h at 85degrees/185F.

Add Iron to modify the colour, if you wish. The more iron you add the greener the colour. Aerate, between dips. Don't leave the yarn/fibre/fabric in the iron bath for long, about 5-10min is enough.

Rinse and hang to dry.

Dried (non-organic) Walnut Shells Ground ~ Dye Colour golden and dark Browns

*Walnut Shells powdered harvested in the wild of Macedonia 

Walnut shells or husks are used for plant dyeing Wool and Silk. Preferably, you would like to use green Walnut husks, the dye colour brown is more radiant, but not everybody has a Walnut tree in the back garden, so try these dried shells instead.

IF you do have a tree handy, do collect the green husks and freeze them. You can use them as a dye without any need to fix the colour due to the tannin content.

If you use the dried husks, I would suggest to use a mordant, too. But do try without it, you might like the result!

Colourfastness: good

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Basic recipe:

100% of Walnut shells
Wool (Mordant not necessary)

Soak the shells overnight
Simmer for 2 hours
Strain through cloth.

Add wool to the dye bath simmer for one hour.
Let it cool and leave in dye bath overnight.

Rinse and dry.

Dried Organic Walnut Shells ~ Dye Colour golden and dark Browns

*harvested in the wild in Croatia

Walnut shells or husks are used for plant dyeing Wool and Silk. Preferably, you would like to use green Walnut shells, the dye colour brown is more radiant, but not everybody has a Walnut tree in the back garden, so try the dried shells instead.

IF you do have a tree handy, do collect the green husks and freeze them. You can use them as a dye without any need to fix the colour due to the tannin content.

If you use the dried husks, I would suggest to use a mordant, too. But do try without it, you might like the result!

Colourfastness: Good - Excellent

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Basic recipe:

100% of Walnut shells
Wool (Mordant not necessary)

Soak the shells overnight
Simmer for 2 hours
Strain through cloth.

Add wool to the dye bath simmer for one hour.
Let it cool and leave in dye bath overnight.

Rinse and dry.