Colorants are everywhere. You can find dyes in your decor, cosmetics, food, and in nearly every fabric in the home from your socks to your furniture. Many of these dyes are made using chemical alternatives to the abundant selection of all natural colorants you can find cheaply and easily in your own backyard.
Whether you are hoping to make life more natural by creating your own, homemade colorants or hoping to replace one or two synthetic colorants with all natural plant dyes, you will find that coloring with natural choices is easy, fun, and yields amazing results.
A natural colorant is a colorant that comes from minerals, plants, or invertebrates. The most common natural colorants come from plant sources like bark, berries, flowers, leaves, and roots.
Potential dyeing options are everywhere and this book only illustrates the most traditionally used colorants and the methods I have employed to obtain my desired results. My favorite forms of natural dyes come from plant parts like berries, flowers, leaves, nuts, and roots. After reading this guide and gaining some skill with natural dyes, you should look around and experiment to see what new and creative natural colorants might be available in your own back yard.
Remember that natural colorants are not just for dyeing fabric.
You can use natural colorants to create homemade ink, paint, or even to dye Easter eggs. Some of our countries oldest documents were written with ink made from natural colorants.
You can also use natural colorants to make meals more healthy and appealing. Sometimes I like to use unusual colors to make mealtime fun for the whole family. Purple mashed potatoes or glowing orange rice is always a fun surprise.
You can even use plant products when you make personal care products like make up, soaps, and hair colorant. Many commercial cosmetics you purchase have their color roots in natural product dyes and with a little knowledge and a bit of practice, you can become a master at making pleasing looking and smelling products for your family that actually have benefits to go with their attractiveness.
Nearly anything you work with that needs color is a potential choice for natural plant dyes! Natural colorants come in every shade you might want. You can even blend or tone the colors up and down to achieve the exact result you need for your project.