Around the World in 80 Dyes

Around the World in 80 Dyes Naturally Dyeing Fabric & Fiber through history, humor and how-to. Instruction and insight without the scientific or academic seriousness.

Just fun in creating color from what nature provides

Working with madder root requires consistent heat, something you don’t get with solar dyeing. But I put a handful in a j...
06/10/2026

Working with madder root requires consistent heat, something you don’t get with solar dyeing. But I put a handful in a jar anyway and four days of sunshine later had decent salmon colors. I like the vein-like appearance from scrunching the fabric and shaking, not stirring the jar contents (James Bond dyeing style?).

Nice range of tan to brown from boiled Ponderosa Pine cones on cotton pieces.
06/10/2026

Nice range of tan to brown from boiled Ponderosa Pine cones on cotton pieces.

The Ponderosa Pine are dropping an abundance of cones, including conveniently right along the trails. These little nugge...
06/08/2026

The Ponderosa Pine are dropping an abundance of cones, including conveniently right along the trails. These little nuggets of natural dye joy are loaded with tannin and can often create a light mauve-ish color on their own with a high pH.

On a trail this morning to check the wild dye growth. The late freeze stunted most plants but some have come back fine. ...
06/05/2026

On a trail this morning to check the wild dye growth. The late freeze stunted most plants but some have come back fine. Photos: The Gamble Oak needs months more growth to develop its tannin. The Colorado Piñon is a long way from producing cones and seeds. The Stemmy Four-Nerve Daisy (weird name) is an early summer favorite of pollinators so I leave it be. There are so few Paintbrush in this area that I never pick them. And non-plant residents also need time to grow.

The full photos of the kitchen waste solar dye experiment with black bean soaking liquid and a handful of onion skins. T...
06/03/2026

The full photos of the kitchen waste solar dye experiment with black bean soaking liquid and a handful of onion skins. The reel images were auto-cropped. Here you can see all three colors from each jar. First photo of wet fabric, second of dry

My patio golden time: late afternoon when the little table is perfect for plants, solar dye jars and a drink. The plants...
06/01/2026

My patio golden time: late afternoon when the little table is perfect for plants, solar dye jars and a drink. The plants are a great-smelling curry leaf and sulfur cosmos seedlings. The jars are onion skins and black bean soaking liquid (hoping for a decent gray). The drink is a G&T.

I walk into the studio early this morning and tell myself I like the weird direction the new WIP idea is going. An hour ...
05/31/2026

I walk into the studio early this morning and tell myself I like the weird direction the new WIP idea is going. An hour later? I’ve reorganized the blocks three times. My approach is literally ‘throw things at the wall and see what sticks.’ The random-look log cabin blocks will simply be the background to additional weirdness so I don’t know why I’m fussing over it so much.

Paint Mines is a protected park on Colorado’s eastern plains. No picking, climbing, digging. But wouldn’t you love to wo...
05/28/2026

Paint Mines is a protected park on Colorado’s eastern plains. No picking, climbing, digging. But wouldn’t you love to work with the pigments in those rocks? Red, gold, purple, pink. I keep looking for other drainages in the area that may have the same eroded formations where I could dig a little, but most of the region is private ranch property. Still, I keep asking and looking.

I sometimes find a lot of the white-on-white quilting cotton in thrift shops and it’s fun to dye them. Even a little col...
05/18/2026

I sometimes find a lot of the white-on-white quilting cotton in thrift shops and it’s fun to dye them. Even a little color makes the designs pop. Here the top one is a mauve-ish color from Colorado blue spruce cones. Bottom is a tan from peeling wild juniper bark. Photo doesn’t show the true hues. Either one can also be used as just a tannin for later darker dyeing.

It can get pretty windy here with the swirling air roaring off Pikes Peak and across the town. When that happens, as it ...
05/11/2026

It can get pretty windy here with the swirling air roaring off Pikes Peak and across the town. When that happens, as it did last week, the huge Colorado blue spruce tree across the street drops an abundance of cones for me to gather into a dye pot. Depending on the time of year, water pH and dye concentration, it can produce colors from a deep or light dusty rose to a purpleish mauve to a tan with a hint of pink. Natural dyes always amaze me.

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Colorado Springs, CO

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