As the semester winds down, I wanted to show a few samples from the eight natural dye notebooks. As this class was not a studio class, we approached the topic of natural dyes as a series of collaborative tests and resulting swatch swaps. Everyone kept logs of each recipe and technique so they can replicate the luscious colors.

We tried extracts of “exotic” dyes -such as madder, cochineal, brazilwood, logwood, quebracho; these dyes were the backbone of the 16th century global trade as European dyers tried to figure out the secrets of South Asian dyeing expertise. We tried some of these in our Star Store roof top experiments and found that even in a cloudy, rainy April, there was adequate sun and heat to get excellent color after only a week. Moving on to various recipes for mordanting cotton as well as post-dye modifiers such as iron and vinegar, the group then tried more “kitchen variety” or familiar dyes – red cabbage, onion skins, avocado pits, turmeric, and with the help of a Californian sister, eucalyptus bark. Printing with mordant and mordant plus dye pastes was very successful – revealing the secret to centuries of imported Indian washfast cottons.