Non-toxic Movement: 17 Natural Dyes You Can Use to Colour Your Fabrics
Sustainability is a huge “trend” these days. But could it be a must? Considering climate change, global warming and extinction, it is crucial to think about living eco-friendly. One of the major steps you can take to live with intention is leaving the consumer mindset. To start, natural dyeing can help! To find out how to make natural dyes, keep reading.
What is Eco-Friendly Dyeing?
To us, natural dyeing is not a preference, rather it is a need in the era of global warming. If you feel the same way, here are the two main elements of eco-friendly dyeing.
1. Natural Ingredients
At its core, natural ingredients mean you can use a product without risking your own health. The ingredients list must contain only safe, non-toxic ingredients. What implies clean ingredients? By clean, we mean 100% organic products that are based on safety and non-toxicity.
2. Sustainable Sourcing
All of our goods come from organic sources, locally grown and native to the region. Our goods are environmentally sustainable, since our methods of planting and harvesting take into account the reverence for the soil and the ecology of the plants and insects around us. We collaborate with local communities to purchase our dyestuffs, to make it possible for them to make a living from the plants on their land and to protect this ecosystem.
You can take a look at how to dye with onion skin / colouring guide with red onion skin.
17 Natural Dyes Made from Plants for Your Clothes
Acorn extract powder (Quercus)
The acorn is the fruit of several oak trees (Quercus species). Oak is endemic to the Northern Hemisphere and there are over 500 varieties. Acorn tannin is well washed and light-fast. It can be used as a dyestuff for ginger brown colours, or as a tannin in a biting process
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Juglans Nigra (Walnut Hull Powder)
Black walnut hulls are rich in tannins and can be used as a natural dye to create a variety of brown tones. Walnuts are rich in tannin enough that they can be used without a pinch, but with darker browns, a bite and the use of iron as a change can be beneficial.
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Buckthorn seed powder (Rhamnus Petiolaris Boiss)
Also known as Anatolian buckthorn, Persian berries and sea buckthorn, the seeds of these plants can be used to grow some colours, including orange-yellow, yellow, beige, green and khaki, based on the mordant and the changes used.
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Green Oak Gallnuts (Quercus Infectoria)
Oak Gallnut is one of the better suppliers of tannin that can be used in the natural dyeing process. It is favoured by natural dyers, although it does not in itself add a heavy color to the cloth. Oak walnuts help you produce very sharp shades of every color by helping the mordant to bind to cellulose fibers.
Madder (Rubia Tinctorum)
Madder is a perennial plant with evergreen leaves and yellow flowers that is cultivated for the long roots from which the dye is produced. While it is most famous for its red colors, it is possible to acquire from our madder powder, using a number of methods, yellow, green, red, coral, pink and purple shades.
Indigo (Indigofera Tinctorum)
Indigo comes from the leaves of a shrub-like plant native to the Indian sub-continent. Several varieties of indigo can be used to create a pigment, with Indigofera tinctorum known to produce the finest blue colours.
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Green Oak Gall Powder Tannin (Quercus Infectoria)
Oak Gallnut is one of the better suppliers of tannin that can be used in the natural dyeing process. The powder helps you produce very sharp shades of every color by allowing the mordant to bind to the cellulose fibers.
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White Oak Gall Powder (Quercus Infectoria)
Oak Gallnut is one of the better suppliers of tannin that can be used in the natural dyeing process. It is favoured by natural dyers, although it does not in itself add a heavy color to the cloth. Oak gallnut powder helps you produce very sharp shades of every color by helping the mordant to bind to cellulose fibers.
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Onion skins (Allium Cepa L)
When the onions grow entirely, the foliage dies down, and the outer layers of the bulbs become crisp and papery. These leaves are used to produce yellow and orange/brown colors and light olive greens with the addition of iron.
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Persian Madder Powder
Both the pieces of the madder plant contain a pigment called alizarin, but the roots have the greatest concentration. The paint developed with Alizarin and Parparin from the roots of the species is known in the world as the Turkish crimson, Rubia Tinctorum. You will get these colors of Persian madder powder: Yellow, Dark Red, Apricot Color, Light Red.
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Pomegranate Peel Powder (Punica granatum)
The pomegranate fruit develops on a shrub-like tree and matures in the field around themazi in October. You will get the shades of green, khaki, dark yellow, beige and light tan by using pomegranate peel powder.
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Red Pine Bark Extract Powder
Do you wonder how to dye with red pine bark extract?Red pine bark extract is rich in tannins and can be used as a natural dye to produce a mixture of purple, beige and brown tones. Our pine bark extract comes from a by-product of the Turkish forestry industry.
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Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius)
Safflower is a thistle-like plant with yellow flowers, cultivated primarily for the production of vegetable oil from its seeds, which grows well in dry areas. It may be used to create bright yellow and pink colours, orange/coral tones and even red colours, depending on the processes and fibers used.
Sumac powder (Rhus Coriaria)
Our sumac is generally known as Sicilian sumac, or sumac tanner, after its use in the preparation of leather. It offers yellow and mauve shades as well as purple shades with the use of iron.
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Weld Powder (Reseda Luteola L)
Often known as dyer's grenade, dyer's weed, dyer's mignonette, and gouda, welding is a dye plant used to create a variety of light and wash-fast yellow colours. Weld may be mixed with indigo or woad for emeralds and leaf greens.
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