The Flowers we Grow: Lemonade Day

. I'm taking the opportunity of this unplanned time off to connect with the many artists and creators in this wonderful city that I love. Come with me on my 100-day odyssey of art and creativity in Long Beach. I call it .

Ever since I met with , the idea of putting in a few dye plants of my own has been in my head.  I even spoke to the fellow who runs the new farmer's market in the 8th district about enlisting Kathi's help to put in a learning dye garden.  But first, I thought I should take inventory of my little garden.  Perhaps some of the plants I already have will be useful for adding color.

August 15th was Day 45.  I inventoried some of the plants in my garden that I thought might be sources of natural color.

Here are the flowers and plants in my garden for which I know the names.  I found natural dye references for the ones in italics: roses (various colors), lantana, yarrow, geraniums, grass, fern (not sure what kind), parsley, thyme. Also, there were references for some easy-to-find waste: coffee grinds, onion skin, rusty nails, red onion.  For onion skin and red onion skin, I plan on asking the grocer for discards.

The color that eventually emerges is dependent partly upon the mordant used.  A mordant will affix the color to the material.  Common mordants are salt, vinegar, alum, tin and chrome.  Some recipies call for a combination of mordants, and some mordants are used as pre-treatment while others are used for post-treatment.

Here is an experiment on the use of different mordants, and a caution about mordants: Some mordants can be toxic.  Please take care not to bring into contact with food or food preparation equipment.  Mordants should not be tested or used in an environment for young children.

Another variable is the actual material being dyed.  Cotton will hold the dyes differently from wool.

The information below I found in this reference at Pioneer Thinking.

Flower / color of dye

Roses / Pink - with a little mint and some lemon juice to activate the alkaloids can make a brilliant pink dye.

Yarrow / Yellow and green shades

Grass / Yellow-green

Coffee Grinds / brown

Onion skin / orange

Rusty nails / black

Red onion skin / medium green, lighter than forest green

Want more lemonade?       

And Tomorrow...

The NBM show starts at the Long Beach Convention Center and runs Thursday through Saturday.

It is a show for sign making, digital printmaking, apparel decoration, engraving and personalization.  I want to look at the equipment.

At this point, I will say that there is some really good stuff going on at our convention center.  I feel that it was so opportune for me personally (so karmic for me, shall we say?) that we had the Convergence fiber festival, followed almost immediately by the International Quilt Festival, followed almost immediately by the NBM Show!

So much opportunity to learn in such a short time!

Need to contact me?  info@handmadepenguin.com

Trish Tsoiasue writes as herself about creative and maker topics for and as Handmade Penguin for the Handmade Penguin Blog.