Have you tried avocado dyeing but were hoping for brighter pinks? Or maybe you've been meaning to try for a while but had a few questions before you started. This blog post is packed with tips that will help you. Before I launch into that, I just wanted to mention that I actually have a course dedicated to avocado dye, so if you'd like to dive in and learn all the secrets, then this is perfect for you. Get lifetime access to 2+ hours of videos where you'll learn all of my secrets, find out how to make ink and paint, darken your dye (..and get a bonus video class on hammering herbs onto fabr ..read more

Are you intrigued about the crossover between natural dyeing and herbalism? Well, soapmaking is a fantastic bridge between the two crafts. Imagine infusing colourful, healing botanicals (and colourful clay!) into soap so your body can absorb the goodness. Did you know there are many dye plants that are also soap colorants? Madder, indigo and woad, are just a few! I chatted to Tanya Anderson from Lovely Greens about using natural colorants in soaps and how to infuse botanicals into oil. I'm delighted to share the interview in just a moment. Keep reading until the end where Tanya shares a speci ..read more

Last week I met artist Lucy Augé for the first time. I've been a fan of her botanical artwork for years and it turns out that she lives close by. It was wonderful to meet up! Lucy has done a bit of plant dyeing over the years and she asked how I get my colours so saturated. These are my top tips that I gave her, and I thought I'd share with you too!   These tips pretty much form the basis of my dyeing philosophy which can be found in my book Botanical Colour at your Fingertips (available as an eBook and paperback).   1. Use less water. Only use as much water as you need to submerge ..read more

Join me for a chat with George Fukuda who runs Bailiwick Blue, an indigo farm on the Isle of Guernsey, in the UK. George produces indigo pigment to sell, and grows a selection of other dye plants and sells these in their dried state ready for dyeing. Hi George. Can you begin by telling us a bit about your incredible indigo farm in Guernsey? Bailiwick Blue farm, is located in Gélé Vinery, on the west coast of Guernsey, within an old Guernsey Frampton commercial greenhouse, built in the 1960s. The term “vinery” is a colloquialism stemming from the commercial Guernsey grape and tomato growing in ..read more

It’s spring in the UK and I’ve been dyeing with one of my favourite local dye plants: hawthorn. With a lot of patience and little help from some baking soda, the colour deepened to a dark rose. The gradual pH shift and oxidiation of the dye is always mesmerising! Many dye plants are pH sensitive and a little acid or alkali can bring out beautiful shades.   Hawthorn makes beautiful shades throughout the year, whether you dye with leaves and blossom, just the leaves, or leaves and berries combined. Additionally, the bark contains gorgeous tannin rich dye. On this occasion I used the pla ..read more

I moved home a few weeks ago and have been organising lots of fairly urgent house renovations. What do home decorating and natural dyeing have in common? Well, quite a lot, if you ask me. Have I ever told you why I began dyeing with plants? It's actually because I wanted to create my own non toxic, healthy fabrics. This is the focus of the dye books I've written and why I started using soya milk as a pretreatment on fabric. I stopped using aluminium acetate after my first baby was born over 8 years ago. I share this in my first book Botanical Colour at your Fingertips.   My love of colou ..read more

Update: the magazine is now available to order here. I have something very special to share with you today… I’ve been secretly working on a project over these past few months: a new magazine! Here's a sneak peek of the cover design.   Plant Forage Make is a new magazine for plant lovers and crafters.This special magazine is like a hug, designed to lift your spirits, encourage you to slow down and take notice of the natural world around you. The theme for volume 1 is Scent. Contributors from around the world look at the positive effect of botanical scents on our mood and wellbeing, share ..read more

This is one of the most exciting tutorials I’ve shared in a long time. I can't wait to show you how I made this walnut printing ink! I was very kindly sent a beautiful handcarved fern stamp by Jessica from Jess Nicole Stamps, and I planned to make some kind of plant-based ink. Funnily enough, I’d started making some walnut paint at just the perfect time for when the stamp arrived in the post. The little bowl of paint was sitting on the kitchen windowsill just waiting to be used for this project! I love it when things align like this. Thank you so much for the stamp, Jessica — I know I'll love ..read more

This summer I've made dyes from a few flowers from my garden. In this blog post, I’ll share my dye notes and colour swatches for three colours of buddleja (butterfly bush), yarrow and goldenrod flowers. I used cellulose fabric for all of the swatches — organic cotton, bamboo viscose and linen. Aluminium dye pots were used throughout. All fabric was pretreated with soya milk, following my usual method in my book Botanical Colour at your Fingertips (available in print and as an eBook). BUDDLEJA I've dyed with buddleja several times over the years and on every occasion I've effortlessly made l ..read more

If you follow me on Instagram, you might have noticed that I’ve been dyeing lots of tiny clothes and hats lately. Well, what I didn’t share is that I was pregnant, and our little girl was born a few days ago! In this blog post, I’ll share some of the baby clothes I’ve dyed. I didn’t know if she’d be a boy or girl, so the colours are fairly neutral. When I dye the next size of clothing, I suspect that there will be more pink (avocado dye) and more flower prints. I can’t wait! The dyes above are from the following plants: pinky taupe - redwood cones, green - yarrow flowers, brown - black t ..read more