Growing a dye garden- 7 woad experiment
As the summer is nearly over, we can’t say it has been a very hot one, unlike 2020. In the other hand, the low 20 temperature and the rain have helped the plants to stay healthy. The dye garden is colourful in hue of yellow and red with the coreopsis flowers and the sunflowers greeting us as we arrive on the roof terrace. Lots of green from the others dye plants including the Japanese Indigo, the woad and the Madder roots.
Coreopsis sunflower
Japanese Indigo and woad Japanese Indigo Madder roots
The woad in the planter next to the sunflower was attacked savagely and looked very sad. We cut the damaged leaves, hoping to get some new growth.
We decide not to discard them but to make an experiment with them. Could they still have some pigment in them?
Cutting the damaged leaves Sunflowers getting tall
A simple dye recipe using the freshly cut (although damaged) woad leaves. We rinse them and add a table spoon of salt, starting to massage and bind them together with a small piece of silk.
After about 10 minutes as the silk absorbs the dye it starts to turn yellow. We then plunge and rinse the silk in cold water and let it dry. In the oxygen, the colour starts to change!
Glad we didn’t discard the damaged woad leaves after all! With a pinch of salt and the oxygen as ingredients, our piece of silk turned a gentle turquoise blue.