Jenny Dean's Wild Colour is the modern classic title on traditional dyeing methods. A celebration of the wealth of natural dyes that can be obtained from over 60 species of plants from common marigolds to rhubarb. Part one introduces the concept of natural dyeing and demonstrates how easy it is to get started. All the techniques are explained with step-by-step sequences and photographs. Colour charts help you to work out which method is best for each dye plant and material.Part two reveals the wide range of plants that you can use for natural dyeing. Colour swatches show the tried and tested range of colours you can extract from each plant.

A Heritage of Colour explores the techniques that can be used to create a wealth of colours from 50 plants, including many that have been in constant use as dyes for over 2000 years. Inspired by the colours on textile fragments from the Iron Age and by the achievements of early dyers, the author describes some of the dyes and methods of the past and considers how they can be adapted for use by today's dyers. The book covers all the basics of natural dyeing and explains in detail how to experiment with local plants, wherever you may live, to produce a wide range of beautiful, rich colours on textile fibres. A Heritage of Colour also includes sections on dyeing with fungi, contact printing on cloth and dyeing multi-coloured fibres and fabrics. The emphasis throughout is on environmentally-friendly methods and on the thrill of personal discovery through practical experience. Follow Jenny's blog on http://www.jennydean.co.uk/

This practical and inspiring guide to creating and using natural dyes from plants, offers information on current environmentally friendly dyeing techniques and more than 65 species of plants and natural dyestuffs. This comprehensive book outlines how to: Select fibres and plant parts Choose the right methods for mordanting and dyeing Obtain a range of gorgeous colours from every plant. Wild Colour is the all-in-one resource for fibre enthusiasts, including knitters, sewers and weavers gardeners who are interested in new uses for traditional dye plants and eco-conscious DIYers who want authoritative information about the natural dyeing process and the plants that are essential for it.

The essence of plants bursts forth in magnificent hues and surprising palettes. Using dyes of the leaves, roots, and flowers to color your cloth and yarn can be an amazing journey into botanical alchemy. In Eco Colour, artistic dyer and colorist India Flint teaches you how to cull and use this gentle and ecologically sustainable alternative to synthetic dyes. India explores the fascinating and infinitely variable world of plant color using a wide variety of techniques and recipes. From whole-dyed cloth and applied color to prints and layered dye techniques, India describes only ecologically sustainable plant-dye methods. She uses renewable resources and shows how to do the least possible harm to the dyer, the end user of the object, and the environment. Recipes include a number of entirely new processes developed by India, as well as guidelines for plant collection, directions for the distillation of nontoxic mordants, and methodologies for applying plant dyes. Eco Colour inspires both the home dyer and textile professional seeking to extend their skills using India's successful methods.

"For several thousand years, all dyes were of animal, vegetable, or mineral origin, and many ancient civilizations possessed excellent dye technologies. The first synthetic dye was produced in 1856, and the use of traditional dyes declined rapidly thereafter. By 1915 few non-synthetics were used by industry or craftspeople. The craft revivals of the 1920s explored traditional methods of natural dyeing to some extent, particularly with wool, although the great eighteenth- and nineteenth-century dye manuals, which recorded the older processes, remained largely forgotten. In The Art and Craft of Natural Dyeing, J.N. Liles consolidates the lore of the older dyers with his own first-hand experience to produce both a history of natural dyes and a practical manual for using pre-synthetic era processes on all the natural fibers--cotton, linen, silk, and wool. A general section on dyeing and mordanting and a glossary introduce the beginner to dye technology. In subsequent chapters, Liles summarizes the traditional dye methods available for each major color group. Scores of recipes provide detailed instructions on how to collect ingredients--flowers, weeds, insects, wood, minerals--prepare the dyevat, troubleshoot, and achieve specific shades"--Publisher's description.

This book describes some 300 plants and 30 animals (marine mollusks and scale insects) that are used as sources for natural dyes. Botanical or zoological details are given for each source and the chemical structures is shown for each dye. Dyes employed by different civilisations, identified by dye analyses, are illustrated and relevant historical recipes and detailed descriptions of dyeing processes by traditional dyers are quoted and explained in the light of modern science. Other current uses of natural colorants, e.g. in medicine and for food and cosmetics, and replacement of synthetic by natural dyes are also noted.

This practical and inspiring book is a celebration of the colors that can be obtained from over 65 species of plants - from the common marigolds and rhubarb to the classic dye plants such as madder and indigo. Stunning photography and expert advice make Wild Color the essential guide to growing and using plants to make natural dyes. Whether you are an experimental crafts-person, a beginning or experienced dyer, or a gardener interested in new uses for traditional plants, this is the essential natural dye sourcebook for you.

A study showing the importance of domestic animals to the development of human civilisation.

This book defends the radical thesis that no physical object has any of the colours we experience it as having.