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Welcome to Around the World in 80 Dyes, an exploration of natural dye for fabric and fibers.
Creating bright pinks, soft corals, deep browns and vibrant yellow by sustainably using what's in the kitchen, the garden, the forest, the roadside.
Janet Day, the owner and artist behind Around the World in 80 Dyes. A life-long quilter and textile artist, daughter of painters, curious kid from the hippie era with a fascination for color and its creation.
An adventure through creating color from natural dye sources, including using kitchen waste, yard waste, weeds, flowers, barks and dirts to sustainably create dyes. Through experimentation and travel, I'll record it all on the blog and through new projects.
After years of smashing flowers into textiles and staining my fingernails in pots of dye, it's time to share my discoveries and disasters more widely so others can join the adventure in natural dyes around the world.
An August 2024 natural dyeing workshop in Tangier offered a challenge. Host and international textile artist Yto Barrada proposed the best way to really understand a dye source or a color is to spend a lot of time pushing its boundaries.
A lot of time: At least one month with one type of flower or other dye source. Working with only that color day after day. Longer to really see how far a natural color can go.
I took this challenge to heart and launched what I am calling my Yellow Project, spending at least a year working with natural sources for yellow dyes from locations all over the world.
Yellow is often the easiest color to achieve and can be coaxed from innumerable natural sources: flowers, leaves, barks, dirt and rocks.
Northern Europe’s weld plant has been used for millennia to produce a bright yellow. Marigold and coreopsis are the novice dyers friends for their ease of use. The green and white leaves of the silver poplar tree nonsensically produce a taxi-bright shade of yellow. Fustic from Argentina was used for the khaki shade of World War I military uniforms.
And yellow is a versatile color easily adjusted and changed by water pH, growing location, quantity of dye source, whether it’s fresh, dried or frozen, heat, time, mordants, additives and after-dye baths.
I started this project with three varieties of coreopsis growing in abundance in my back yard. I’ve stretched their dye from bright orange to a pale greenish yellow.
I’ve filled half of a large journal with notes and swatches and I think I still have months ahead of me just working with coreopsis.
Then I’ll move on to marigold, which also flourishes in my yard and dries or freezes well. Then whatever yellow color source I find wherever my travels take me.
It will all be documented here with photos, videos and updates on what I learn. I’ll add to this page regularly, so please return to see where the Yellow Project takes me.
-- September 2024
Updates in my pursuit of the color yellow will be posted here as well as on Instagram - @80dyes - and in my blog (read blog entries in the section belowor sign up to receive them in an emai)..
Please check back occasionally to see how the effort goes.
Coreopsis basalis is one of several varieties of the flower that produces fabric and fiber dyes ranging from bright orange to deep yellow.
Coreopsis flowers can create a variety of colors. This image, from left, shows a green/brown from dipping the dyed swatch in rusty water, orange hues from the addition of soda ash to increase the dye bath pH, and yellows made by the addition of citric acid or vinegar to lower the pH.
Careful measurements and detailed note taking are crucial in natural dye color manipulation. A difference in the weight of fabric vs. weight of dye source, the water pH, heat levels and additives all influence the resulting color.
Ugly Duckling quilt at the Salida Fiber Festival exhibit at the Paquette Gallery, Steam Plant event center. Salida, Colorado 2024. 84x48 inches.
Constructed of 2-inch strips of naturally dyed and/or printed cotton or linen fabric in a Log Cabin pattern. Hand quilted..
Buried Treasure displayed in the 'Original' experimental art exhibit at The Lab on Santa Fe in Denver's Santa Fe Drive Art District. Denver, Colorado 2024. 64x42 inches.
Fabrics used in the quilt were buried for months in a garden or compost pile, with bits of metal or by themselves. Others were submerged in buckets of rotting tree nuts and frozen all winter. Evidence of bugs or animals chewing on
Helping Hands displayed at the PACE Gallery, Parker Arts, Culture and Event Center. Parker, Colorado 2024. 34x42 inches.
Thrifted and upcycled fabrics and vintage evening gloves dyed with natural sources. Hand quilted.
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'Original' Experimental Art Gallery Show
The Lab on Santa Fe
840 N. Santa Fe Dr., Denver, Colorado
Showcasing my Buried Treasure quilt through Oct. 10
Fiber Art exhibit
Paquette Gallery at Salida Steam Plant, Salida, Colorado
Showcasing my Ugly Ducking quilt through September
Neighborhood Arts & Crafts Studio Crawl
Oct. 5, 10am - 4pm
Colorado Springs neighborhoods of Middle Shooks Run, Patty Jewett
Check back for more information and details about arts fairs, gallery show and events for the remainder of 2024 and into 2025.
PAST EXHIBITS
Around the World in 80 Dyes naturally dyed textile art has been exhibited at the following galleries:
Liminal Space Gallery in Pueblo, Colorado
Steam Plant Event Center in Salida, Colorado
PACE arts center in Parker, Colorado
Avocado pits provided by Stir Coffee & Cocktails, North Wahsatch Avenue, Colorado Springs, CO
Flowers provided by garden centers in Colorado Springs, CO, friends and neighbors.
Thrifted and up-cycled fabrics, fibers and linens from Who Gives a Scrap, Arcturus Drive, Colorado Springs, CO
Logo, graphics and design by James Rosanio, Blue Claw Graphics & Design, Medford, New Jersey.
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