Introduction to Natural Dyes

Enlarge Image Image Gallery "Harvesting Color" identifies and explains where to find 36 wild plants that will yield beautiful natural shades and shows how easy it is to make natural dyes. Complete with maps for each plant's range, a master dye recipe and a knitting project for every time of the year, "Harvesting Color" is an essential guide to the growing field of natural dyes. Photo Courtesy Artisan Books

The following is an excerpt from Harvesting Color by Rebecca Burgess (Artisan Books, 2011). The excerpt is from the Introduction. 

The cave paintings of Lascaux, the red woven strands of Native American basketry, and the bright fuchsia tones of Aztec cotton robes all attest to the eternal desire to express ourselves through the use of color. In fact, it seems as if natural dye processes are as ancient as the origins of human creativity.

For thousands of years, the art and craft of natural dyeing has connected our creative urges with the inner workings of the natural world. As humans dyed fibers and then turned them into textiles and a range of other useful everyday objects, they transferred color from the plant and mineral kingdoms into human material culture. The dye processes that have evolved through the centuries are an outcome of both human error and conscious creation.

The advent of the Industrial Age resulted in chemical experiments that altered how color was created. William Perkins discovered synthetic dyes in 1856, but the process relied on heavy resource inputs. The first synthetically produced blue, for instance, required 400 pounds of coal tar to create 1 ounce of dye powder (the heavy use of refined coal tar continues to this day in synthetic dye manufacturing). Nevertheless, because of suitability and ease of application, synthetic dyes quickly became favored by the textile industry and, as the Industrial Revolution continued, more people bought mass-produced garments made with them.

In North America, the natural dye traditions were kept alive only through a scattered network of artisans and individuals. Natural dye houses disappeared from the landscape. Only vestiges of the natural dye culture can still be seen in fields that host woad, tansy, and weld—former dye crops that have naturalized even after years without cultivation.

Although the Industrial Revolution enhanced the expediency of production, it took a massive toll on our air, soil, and water resources. Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring detailed the rampant and destructive effects of synthetic pesticide use within the ecosystem. This seminal book brought attention and scientific evidence to the impacts of synthetic chemicals upon the health of the natural world, and in the decades after it was first published in 1962, the environmental movement was not only born but began to respond to the effects and dangers of the synthetic chemical culture.