What plants can produce a natural green dye that you can use on fabrics and yarn?
When I first became interested in making natural dyes, I assumed that many plant materials would produce a green color. Makes sense, right? Well, surprisingly, there are not that many plants that make a ‘true green’ shade.
Natural green dyes tend to be more muted and olive-y in color, not a bright, vibrant green. (Although, back when natural dyes were the only option, most tended to be muted and very few materials produced a bold, bright hue regardless of the color).
The plants on this list can be used to produce a green shade. But there is another option!
Remember the color wheel?
Yellow + Blue = Green
Yes! You can combine a blue dye with a yellow dye to create a green.
For instance, Indigo creates such a bold, true blue color that it can be blended with many different yellows to create different green shades from blue-green to kelly green to more yellow-green tones.
As with all natural dyes, some can create color all on their own and some require something extra such as a specific mordant process, a modifier (such as iron or copper) or pH adjuster like vinegar or baking soda.
(Note: there are a few botanical dyes that do not need a mordant but almost all of these particular plants require mordanting to make the color adhere to the fabric.)
What influences final dye color?
There are many different factors that can influence the final color of your dye, including but not limited to one or more of the following:
- Stage of life of the plant
- Time of year
- Preceding weather conditions
- pH of the water (test your water)
- Mordant used, if any
- Modifiers used, if any
- Material of the dyepot
List of plants to create green dyes:
- Common Yarrow Achillea millefolium (with iron after dyeing)
- Onion skins (with iron after)
- Alder (Alnus)
- Heather flowers (Calluna vulgaris)
- Dyer’s Chamomile (Anthemis tinctoria)
- Dyer’s Mulberry (Chlorophora tinctoria) with iron
- Barberry (Berberis thunbergii)
- Safflower flowers (with iron)
- Queen Anne’s Lace (Daucus carota)
- Birch leaves (Betula)
- Coreopsis
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- Yellow Cosmos (when used with iron)
- Comfrey (Symphytum)
- Dahlia flowers and leaves
- Eucalyptus bark
- Rhubarb roots
- Cherry, Peach etc leaves (Prunus)
- Willow stems
- Dock leaves (Rumex)
- Dandelion
- Woad (Genista tinctoria)
- Ivy (Hedera helix)
This list is by no means exhaustive and I will continue to update it as I find more green dye plants. So, make sure that you bookmark this page and check back!
Also, as I mentioned above, you may need to use different mordanting methods or add special modifiers to draw out the green in some of these materials.
I always recommend that you keep careful notes of the entire process including time of year, condition of the plant materials, hardness of the water, etc. The more information that you record, the better.
But, the most important thing for you to remember is to experiment and have fun!
Enjoy,
Annette
This natural dye kit is perfect for beginners and includes mordants as well as 4 different plant dyes
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