Natural Dyes: A Whole Array of Colors

I was in a natural dye workshop all weekend and it was fabulous. I have to admit I was dreading it a little bit at first. Every weekend in May and June has been booked with activites and I was really wanting a weekend that was all mine. BUT this was much better than anything I could have done left to my own devices.

We dyed madder, logwood grey, fustic, indigo (both Japanese and Guatemalan), and cochineal. From these dyes, we were able to get the entire spectrum of the color wheel.

In the past, I have always been obsessed with indigo. This was before I had ever dyed with cochineal bugs. I am now in love with cochineal. Most of my dyed fiber is sitting in a garbage bag, wet, and ageing for the week. However, I do have three pieces of fiber to show you:

The red: cochineal
The orange: a mixture of madder, cochineal, and fustic
The yellow: madder

In a week of so, after I wash out the rest of my fiber, I will post photos of the rest of my work.