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Natural Dyes by Teresinha Roberts

Natural dyes produce an extraordinary diversity of rich and complex colours as well as unexpected results, making them very exciting to use. All those vibrant blue, green, red and yellow natural dyes combine well with each other. Most natural dyes come from dye plants and the best-known ones are madder, brazilwood, logwood, weld, woad and indigo, but some natural dyes, such as cochineal, come from insects or other animals.

Madder, weld and other natural dyes have been used for thousands of years. Until the late 1800s when synthetic dyes came into common use, textile colours came from natural dyes including cochineal, brazilwood and logwood. Natural dyes can, however, easily become the dyes of the future. They are a renewable resource and not dependent on petroleum as are many synthetic dyes.

Providing alum is used as a mordant, natural dyes use no toxic or polluting chemicals, and the organic matter left over from dye plants can be put on the compost. Combined with the natural colours of wool and cotton, natural dyes such as indigo and cochineal are arguably the only possible colours for dyeing organic textiles.

Read more about natural dyes here.

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Website and photos by Mike Roberts                 © 2006-08 WildColours
Page last updated 30 September 2008