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Natural dyes produce an extraordinary diversity of rich and complex colours as well as unexpected results, making them exciting to use.
What dyes should I choose? (click on a photo)
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Red Colours
Madder, Brazilwood, Cochineal, Safflower, Ladies' Bedstraw, Dyers' Woodruff & St John's Wort
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Yellow Dyes
Weld, Dyers Greenweed, Coreopsis & Chamomile, Fustic, Tansy, Dock, Goldenrod, Pomegranate, Onion
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Blue Dyes
Indigo, Japanese Indigo, Woad, Alkanet & Logwood
Indigo dyeing
Shibori dyeing
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What are natural dyes?
Most natural dyes come from dye plants, the best-known ones including madder, brazilwood, logwood, weld, woad and indigo. Some natural dyes, such as cochineal, come from insects, or from mineral sources.
Madder, weld and other dye plants have been used for thousands of years. Until the late 1800s when synthetic dyes came into common use, textile colours came from the use of natural dyes. Natural dyeing can, however, easily become the future. Natural dyes are a renewable resource and not dependent on petroleum as are many synthetic dyes.
Providing alum is used as a mordant, plant 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 fabric dyes such as indigo and cochineal are arguably the only possible colours for dyeing organic textiles. Read more about natural dyes and buy natural dyes here.
Dyeing with Natural Dye Extracts
Although it is very exciting to dye fibre directly from plants that you have grown yourself, natural dye extracts are economical, very concentrated and easy to repeat a colour. They save time as they do not require lengthy pre-soaking and simmering, and dye extracts can be mixed to obtain different dye colours. Read more about natural dye extracts here and buy dye extracts here.
How do I start with natural dyes? (opens a new page)
What are the differences between natural & synthetic dyes? (opens a new page)
Customer Comments:
Thank you for your prompt response to my order for dye seeds which I received today.
I am writing to say that I find your websites very interesting and will definitely be making other orders very soon! Best wishes and "bonne continuation" (as the French say!). Wendy from France
I loved your website, we can feel your heart in it and it's great. Audrey from France
"Fascinating and useful site. Must have taken a lot of effort to research and maintain it.’ David Finnegan, Southport
‘Brilliant service. Finding your website really informative.’ Claire from Shipley, UK
'Wow! Thank you so much for sending me my parcel in record time – I was amazed and delighted! I am just starting out with natural dyeing of our own alpacas' yarn and so it is very exciting to be in a position to get going.' Carole from Cairndinnis Alpacas
'Just to let you know that I've been really impressed with your service and the quality of the materials and information on the website.' Clare http://clarabellacraft.blogspot.com/
“Thank you for the super quick delivery!” Estelle Faust, Harrow
“Hello! You have a wonderful website! So much information! I love all the dyes you have and your product list is fantastic! Just what I'm looking for.” Anne McEnroe, California, USA
'I received the parcel two days ego. All is perfect. Thank you very much. And special thanks for flyers. I visited your other websites and found some very interesting things!' Dmitry Sukhoverkov, Moscow, Russia
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What's new on this website?
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2026
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29 Mar
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Store now closed: please note that we no longer sell dyes, mordants & seeds on Wild Colours but you are very welcome to continue to read and to learn about Natural Dyes and Dyeing!
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2024
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13 Dec
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EU, EEA & NI customers:-
From 13 Dec 2024, we will no longer be able to ship any orders to the EU, EEA (Iceland, Norway etc) or to NI due to the new EU GPSR regulations!
Please do NOT place an order! Email if you have a query!
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