New Moon Greetings – September 10, 2026
This summer was my first excursion into botanical dyeing. I’ve been spinning yarn for a while now I wanted to try my hand at using garden plants to dye yarn. I quickly discovered that the “how to” information on botanical dyeing is an infinite rabbit hole! I have multiple books and consulted many online sources, and like gardening and cooking, everyone has their own take on what is best.
The first thing I discovered is that there is a lot of chemistry involved. (I am now wishing I could remember more of my 10th grade chemistry class). Dyeing fibers (whether they are spun yarn or fabric) is not like painting. Paint sits on top of the fibers. With dying, there are chemical reactions that help the colors meld with the fibers. Not surprisingly, different plants create different results, and also different fibers create unique results. Because you are working with natural materials, the soil and climate in which they are grown also influence outcomes. It is complex and fascinating.
Mordants for Botanical Dyeing
Many fibers require a mordant, a substance that helps the dye attach to the fiber. I love word origins and apparently the word mordant comes from the Latin mordere, which means “to bite”. The thinking was that the mordant bit and held onto the fiber. Mordants include a number of metal salts like alum (yes, the alum you might use in baking), and many that are harmful if not handled correctly. And to make it more confusing, some plants, like avocado, are both a dye and a mordant wrapped into one.
Additionally, there are tannins and modifiers, substances that highlight colors in certain ways. Protein fibers (which include fibers from sheep, alpaca, rabbit, and dog hair (yes, people are spinning dog hair) are a little easier to mordant and generally accept color more vividly. Cellulose fibers (which come from plants like flax, cotton, and nettles) need different stronger mordants and that’s where the tannins come in.
Tannins & Modifiers
Tannins are plant chemicals that have an astringent or bitter taste. Green and black tea, cranberries, walnuts, and dark chocolate are all high in tannins. In the dyeing process tannins are an important link between cellulose fibers and the mordant. Cellulose fibers do not make a strong bond with mordants, but tannins link strongly to both the fiber and the mordant, creating a bridge between the two. You can dye cellulose fibers without tannins, but the color will fade over time.
And then there are the modifiers. These are substances that will add to and change the color of dyes. They include safe substances like vinegar and more toxic substances like copper.
Jumping In with Avocados
With all of this slightly overwhelming information, we (my grand-daughter and I) decided to begin safely by using substances that did not need mordants or modifiers of any kind and were also safe to use in the kitchen. Our starting projects were with avocados and Japanese indigo.
Avocado skins and pits contain tannins and so don’t need anything added, making them a great first dyeing project. I’ve been drying and saving avocado skins and pits since the spring. We had a huge pile to work with and simply broke them up to add to the dye pot. Next we split the avocado pits in half to expose more of the surface area. (Next time you eat an avocado if you break open the pit, you will see a pinkish tinge which is the color created on the yarn.)
We simmered the dye pot for about 1/2 hour, let it cool, and then added the yarn. Because the avocado pieces were in large chunks, we didn’t worry about them getting stuck in the wool and did not strain the dye pot. This was a pretty easy process. The most difficult thing was making sure the yarn did not felt. Wool yarn will felt (become a solid piece of fabric) if stirred too much or if the water is too hot. The tiny fibers that make wool spinnable, also react to hot water and aggressive stirring by clinging to one another. You can see from the photo that we successfully avoided felting and we are pretty happy with the first results.
Creating Blue
We also attempted to create a blue dye with Japanese Indigo (Persicaria tinctoria). I planted Japanese Indigo for the first time this year. Some of the seedlings were in the main garden and some were in pots. The seedlings in the actual garden succumbed to the drought and Denver’s 100 degree temps this summer, but the potted plants survived. Since we did not have enough Japanese Indigo, we supplemented it with woad (Isatis tinctoria) another plant that can create the color blue.
Dyeing with any of the plants containing indigo is a complicated process because most plants do not actually have blue/indigo in them. What they have are the precursors to indigo. Japanese Indigo and woad both contain indican which will transform to another substance called indoxyl if the alkalinity of the solution is high. Oxygen is then introduced (but not too early or it will ruin things) and the indoxyl molecules come together to create indigo. (I told you there was chemistry involved. )
There are a number of complicated methods for extracting the blue dye , including using fermentation or urine. But we found an ice bath method that appeared safe and easy. The Japanese indigo and woad were blended with ice water, which is supposed to make the indoxyl molecules transform into indigo. After blending the plants with ice water and straining the liquid through cheese cloth our solution was a brilliant green. We added the yarn and let it soak. When pulled from the dye bath the green it is supposed to turn blue.
It is not clear to me why ice water would create the chemical reaction that makes a blue color. And in our case, it didn’t work! I’m not sure what part we got wrong, but we ended up with a lovely shade of green. Not bad for our first try. It was a fun experiment and won’t be our last!
Botanical Dying Adventure Take Aways
Taking the time to notice and engage with the green world is always a remarkable adventure. If I needed any additional reminders that the world and the garden are magical places, this would be it. Ceating color from the garden on fibers I spun was a joy!
Not for the first time, I am in awe of our ancestors who figured out how to add color to fibers without knowledge of molecules, chemistry, reliable sources of heat or ice, and without litmus paper test strips. When you consider indigo especially, the plants create a lovely shade of green with a traditional dye bath. How and why did someone move beyond that to figure out how to achieve blue?
There are infinite possibilities to explore with botanical dyes. You can choose safe and “kitchen friendly” methods as we did, especially if you are doing projects with children. We’ll need to move some of our experiments outside when working with metal salts and some of the tannins.
And my last take away is that I may need a spinning wheel. I simply cannot spin fast enough on a spindle for all the yarn we want to dye.
Resources on Botanical Dyeing
If you also want to jump into exploring plants, fiber, and color together, here are some of the books I’ve found helpful. Just know that they all have their own spin on things:
And this website: Botanical Colors
About this Blog Post & and Qigong Practice
This post is part of my lunar blog series. I post each new moon as it is a great time to begin projects and set intentions with the increasing light. Topics are related to plants and ideas featured in my book, Growing Mindful. Other topics are related to mindfulness, gardens, qigong, and intentional living. For more details and a list of past lunar blog posts, click here.
About Qigong – I lead qigong at Bluff Lake Nature Center in Denver on the last Sunday of each month. You can find the schedule in announcements on the home page. I have also partnered with other graduates of the IIQTC (Institute of Integral Qigong and Tai Chi) to offer virtual HeART of Body Compassionate Self Care Practice Circles based on qigong and tai chi. Check out the information here: Global Healing Circles or contact me if you need more information.
