S e a s o n a l N a t u r a l D y e C o l o u r
L i b r a r y
Over the past couple of years, I have been working on a project with the support of Innovate UK EDGE to expand on the colours in my collection. I am currently in the midst of creating a concept which is completely unique to the design industry by creating a Seasonal Natural Dye Colour Library using only British grown plants. The plants used are a mixture of plants grown myself, sustainably foraged or sourced through produce which has become inedible for various reasons. These are then used to dye small fabric swatches and develop recipes which create an array of colours which are unique to that specific season. This process is then repeated every season so that we can understand how the colour can naturally change throughout the course of the year.
As a result, this will create a Seasonal Natural Dye Colour Library of which we can choose colours for future collections.
Check out our progress so far below:
W I N T E R
Above is a selection of some of the more successful results from the Winter Natural Dye Colour Library. This includes colours on both organic cotton and organic peace silk with two different forms of mordant. These factors alone have a huge impact on the colour created as different fibres require different PH levels when dyeing. The colours created during Winter range from pale yellows through to deep grey and black. This is an exciting first step in creating the Colour Library.
W I N T E R - N E U T R A L
W I N T E R - B R I G H T
S P R I N G
As you can see from the array of fabric swatches above, there is a much broader range of colour available in Spring. Whilst there are still the delicate shades of yellows, browns and oranges similar to Winter, there are also much stronger colours created using plants which are unique to Spring. These include peonies, pansies and hyacinths which have created some of the bolder pinks and eggshell green tones.
S P R I N G - B R I G H T
S U M M E R
Moving away from the earthy, warm tones from Winter and Spring, Summer provided an array of bright colours. Whilst there are still delicate tones of pink throughout the palette, this is mixed with more vibrant shades of pink, purple and blues provided by the berries grown in Summer. These include raspberries, blueberries and strawberries which blend beautifully with the soft green and grey tones produced by greenery such as pine needles, nettles and conifers.
S U M M E R - E A R T H Y T O N E S
S P R I N G - C O N T E M P O R A R Y
S U M M E R - C O N T E M P O R A R Y
