Botanical Dyes: Plant-to-Print Techniques and Tips

by Babs Behan

Overview

Botanical Dyes features recipes and top tips on everything you need to know to make your own natural dyes.

The process of turning plants into print can help you reconnect with nature, find a creative outlet and develop a mindful sense of presence. It also promotes an awareness of sustainable practices and how to reduce our impact on the planet.

Extracting from and updating her book Botanical Inks, Babs talks the home crafter through everything from foraging for dyes, making mordants, creating an array of colors and then putting your new knowledge to the test through some simple projects.

With more than 10 dye recipes, clear step-by-step instructions, troubleshooting tips and explanations of what works and why, Botanical Dyes is the accessible handbook that modern makers everywhere have been waiting for.

• By Hand is a new, how-to slow craft series that celebrates craft techniques
• Explores an on-trend craft that's part of the 'slow-living' movement
• Will appeal to people interested in foraging and sustainable practices
• A comprehensive guide that covers making the dyes and application techniques

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781837830305
Publisher:	Hardie Grant
Publication date:	08/29/2023
Pages:	144
Sales rank:	638,338
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Babs Behan is the founder of Botanical Inks – an artisan natural dye studio based in Bristol. Her work ranges from natural dyeing for textiles, clothing and paper products, to surface application techniques, including Shibori tie-dyeing, bundle dyeing with flowers and block printing.

Editorial Reviews

07/03/2023

This intensive manual by Behan (Botanical Inks), founder of the Botanical Inks dye studio, shows how to make dyes “from natural sources, such as plants, fungi, minerals and insects.” Detailing the history of “deriving colour from natural resources,” she notes the practice likely started around 10,000 BCE with the first cave paintings, and that the labor-intensive process of “crushing thousands of sea snails” to create Tyrian purple made the color a status symbol for ancient Phoenicians. Behan digs into how to make dye baths from leaves, berries, and other natural materials; for instance, one can chop up acorns, boil them, and soak them for three weeks to make a brown dye. She also discusses methods for dyeing textiles, including putting fabric in a glass container filled with dye and heating it up by leaving it in direct sunlight. More advanced techniques for giving garments color include woodblock printing, which involves carving a shape from wood, brushing it with dye, and applying it to fabric. Behan offers enlightening cultural background (cochineal insects were “considered more precious than gold” by the Aztecs and Mayans, who ground the bugs into a powder to make dyes), though casual crafters may be intimidated by the wordy instructions, which are short on photo illustrations. Still, this has much to offer. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

"Her book brings that professional knowledge to the home hobbyist, taking readers through the history of how plants, minerals, and insects have been used to color fibers..." - Kristen Martin, Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher