Article: Natural dyes can stain your clothes and work surfaces just as much as chemical dyes. Make cleanup easier and avoid stains by covering your workspace. Wear clothes you don't mind getting dirty or put on a smock. For protein-based fibers, like cashmere, wool, and silk, soak the garment in mild dishwashing detergent and warm water (cool water for wool). For cellulose-based fibers like cotton, linen, and hemp, soak the garment in soda ash and warm water. Soak the clothes for at least 1-2 hours, or up to 4 hours. Keep them on the stove over a low heat. You can make soda ash by putting baking soda in the oven at 200F (93C) for 1 hour. A mordant is a mixture of a mineral and water that allows the dye to adhere to the fibers. Soak the clothes for about 20 minutes in a stockpot full of water and mordant at a low simmer, then turn off the heat and allow the clothes and water to cool. Use different mordants depending on the result you want: Alum is the most readily available mordant. You can find it in some supermarkets, craft stores, or online. Use 14 pound (0.11kg) of alum in a warm water bath for every 1 pound (0.45kg) of material you want to dye. Using too much alum can make the fibers sticky. Iron is an effective mordant but will darken the end result with a brownish tint. Use iron for earth tone results. To create an iron bath, boil a few old nails in a large pot of water. Use copper to give your end result a greenish tint. Make a copper bath with a few old pennies (from before 1982) in boiling water, or buy copper sulfate online. Copper is toxic to consume, so don't use a pot that you use for cooking and work in a well-ventilated area. Use a small amount of tin for clear, color-fast results. Use a very small amount, and as with copper, don't use a pot that you will make food in and work in a well-ventilated area. Dye fixatives allow your clothes to absorb the dye more readily and prevent the dye from washing out later. The best type of fixative will depend on the type of dye you are using: When dyeing with berries, prepare a salt fixative. Combine 1/2 cup (136.5 g) of salt with 8 cups (2 L) of cold water. When making dye from other plants, prepare a vinegar fixative. Combine 1 part white vinegar with 4 parts cold water. Rinse out the excess fixative and mordant by placing the clothes under cool running water. Rinse until the water runs clear. Your clothes need to be wet in order to dye, so they can go straight from rinsing into a dye bath. To get the best colors, fruit needs to be fully ripe, nuts need to be mature, flowers should be in full bloom and near the end of their life cycle. Seeds, leaves, and stems can be harvested as soon as they grow in. Combine materials to make a stronger color, or a mixed color: Create orange dye with onion skin, carrot roots, butternut seed husks, or gold lichen. Create brown dye using dandelion roots, oak bark, walnut husks and hulls, tea bags, coffee, acorns, or goldenrod shoots. Make pink dye using strawberries, cherries, red raspberries, or grand fir bark. Create blue-purple dye with dogwood bark, red cabbage, lavender elderberries, purple mulberries, cornflower petals, blueberries, purple grapes, or purple iris. Make a red-brown dye using elderberries, red onion skin, pomegranates, beets, bamboo, or dried hibiscus flowers. Form a gray to black dye using blackberries, walnut hulls, oak galls, or butternut hulls. Make a red-purple dye with daylilies, huckleberries, or basil. Go for a green dye by using artichokes, sorrel roots, spinach leaves, Black-eyed Susans, snapdragons, lilac flowers, grass, or yarrow flowers. Make yellow dye using bay leaves, alfalfa seeds, marigold blossoms, St. John's Wort, dandelion flowers, daffodil flower heads, paprika, or turmeric. Cut the plant material into small pieces using a kitchen knife. Transfer it to a large stockpot. For every 1 part plant material, use 2 parts water. The stockpot should be about twice as large as the clothes you plan to dye. You may have to work in batches if you plan to dye a lot of clothes. The stockpot should be full of enough water to completely submerge the clothes you want to dye. To create the strongest dye, leave the plant material in the water overnight without heat. Or, leave the mixture simmering for 1-4 hours while you keep an eye on it. The longer you leave the mixture simmering, the stronger the dye will be. Pour the mixture through a colander to remove the plant material from the liquid. Transfer the liquid back into your dyeing stockpot. Place your wet clothes in the dye bath and simmer them over medium heat until the desired color is achieved. Stir the clothes occasionally to dye them evenly. Remember that the clothes will dry lighter than the color you see in the bath. At minimum, you will need to let the clothes sit in the dye bath for 1 hour. This will result in a light dye. For a rich shade, let the clothes sit in the dye bath 8 hours or overnight. To get rid of excess dye, rinse the clothes in cold water. Rinse them until the water runs clear. Dry your clothes using a dryer or by drying them in the sun.
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Cover your workspace with newspaper or a drop cloth. Scour the clothes you want to dye using detergent or soda ash. Soak the clothes in a mordant for 20 minutes. Let the clothes soak in a fixative for 1 hour. Rinse the clothes in cool water before dyeing them. Gather ripe plant materials to make natural dyes. Cut the plant material and put it in a large stockpot with water. Let the plant material simmer for at least 1 hour or overnight. Strain the plant material out of the dye. Simmer the clothes in the dye for 1-8 hours. Rinse dyed fabric in cold water.