Here is the collection of silks and vintage linens eco printed only with dyes obtained from the plants in my garden over this past month or so:
(The orange textile on the far left is a rusted linen- no plants!) . To summarize the plant sources of natural prints and colours: Background dyes are deep yellows and pinkish yellow from apple and cherry barks; yellow-greens from sumac leaves. Other print greens come from geranium and purple sandcherry leaves; ink-blues and purples from purple sandcherry, purple basil and purple bellflower; deep red-orange, oranges and deep yellows from coreopsis, tagetes and calendula; deep pinks, mauves and lighter pinks from dried hibiscus flowers, rosebuds, rose petals and magenta perennial geranium flowers. Greys arrive when iron liquor is added to the dye bath: hibiscus and apple in these images.
That was June and July in my garden and the dye pot. Next month will bring an abundance of tagetes and coreopsis blossoms; the sumac red candles are blooming already; the hydrangea mop heads are enormous now; the purple basil will plump out more than a few leaves for printing. More experiments!
