I had the amazing opportunity to take a one day workshop in San Diego with weekend with fiber artist Brecia Kralovic-Logan. I’ve always enjoyed weaving, either baskets or on a loom, and have wanted to delve further into the craft. And I’ve dabbled in dyeing while teaching and for my own creations. So here was chance to explore natural dyes with someone who really knows the stuff.
We spend the day learning natural dyes come from two sources; plants, like roots, seeds, bark, flower, and leaves OR bugs, such as cochineal and Lac (bug secretions). We had different fibers to work with; animal (protein), as in wool, silk, angora, OR plants (cellulose), cotton, linen, flax, hemp and others. The group also experimented with mordants (fixatives for color fasting), using iron and alum.
There was quite a bit of prepping for 7 dyes. Everyone helped getting all the plant litter boiling in pots outside on the grill and in crockpots. We had Brierwood, Madder roots, logwood, Lac extract, and then more common kitchen items like yellow 
onions, red cabbage, and black beans. Depending on time in the bath, temperature of the water, the kind of fiber being dyed, and the mordant used we could play recklessly with the colors that developed. I found that to be the beauty of using natural dyes, you never know exactly what you’re going to get. Next step, to use all the gorgeous yarns I dyed in a weaving creation.
