A few years ago I asked readers what topics they would like me to address and several mentioned crafts from the garden. You might know that I am a needle felter (see www.needlinaround.blogspot.com) and that I am studying botanical illustration at Lewis Ginter Botanical gardens (http://www.lewisginter.org/adult-education/adult-educationhappeningnow.php) . Well these hobbies have crashed together with a class I am taking "Painting Plants that Paint" on dye plants. We will sketch a dye plant, learn about them and make a solar dye from some of them. I thought it would be fun to dye some needle-felting wool using solar dyeing and here are my first three attempt using plants from my garden, left to right in the photo above: red hibiscus, fig and woad. Mother Earth News has an article from 1983 (!) on one method to do this: http://www.motherearthnews.com/Do-It-Yourself/1983-03-01/An-Easy-Solar-Dye-It.aspx which I am trying, and I will also try a more traditional method. Stay tuned for another Wednesday lagniappe for the results in two weeks!
Update: Three more solar dyes: Left to right: Hopi Red Dye Amaranth, Muscadine grape skins and turmeric!
Happy gardening!
A non-commercial guide to organic gardening in the mid-Atlantic states, with some specifics to central Virginia..and some information applicable across the country! Or to other time zones! Across the seas! Who knew? "No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden." Thomas Jefferson
Central Virginia Organic Gardener
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