Lichen dye

“I find myself inspecting little granules as it were on the bark of trees little shields or apothecia springing from a thallus such is th...

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Dyeing with lichen differs from the ”normal way” of plant dyeing. It’s kind of like making a trifle. I have tried dyeing with lichen before, but I used the kind you find in trees and I found that t…

yarn dyeing with lichen natural dyeing cladonia mitis

Creating Lichen Dyes ( Letharia Vulpina or Wolf Lichen): Lichen: I pass it endlessly when hiking in the woods. They grow on rocks and hangs from trees. It covers branches on the forest floor. It's everywhere if you take a moment to focus. But what is lichen exactly? They are not plants. They are a symbio…

First a disclaimer: no pennies were harmed in the process of dyeing this fabric. Craft of the Dyer: Colour from Plants and Lichens by Nova Scotia dye expert Karen Leigh Casselman is my main dye bible. Most of the dye recipes are for plants found in North America, but Casselman offers two offbeat mineral dye recipes with copper pennies and clay as the dyestuff. This summer I'll try the clay recipe which is very messy. Copper penny blue was manageable in my laundry room. Dawn MacNutt adapted…

Creating Lichen Dyes ( Letharia Vulpina or Wolf Lichen): Lichen: I pass it endlessly when hiking in the woods. They grow on rocks and hangs from trees. It covers branches on the forest floor. It's everywhere if you take a moment to focus. But what is lichen exactly? They are not plants. They are a symbio…

{i just love the definition for photooxidation: Oxidation under the influence of radiant energy (as) light} I've got quite a few (12) lichen jars going. I check on them daily and give them a good shake when I remember. They are my babies. Collecting just the right kind of lichens that will produce bright and bold colors has been a tricky and fasinating road for me. Foraging from Califonia to Ireland has been a wonderful journey for me into the world of lichens. Here are tiny samples I set up…

My first attempt at dyeing with lichens proved troublesome. Curiously, more people have read that post than any other, so it was my most rewarding beige dye yet. The proper process for fermenting crottle remained a beguiling mystery, til this book was recommended by people on Ravelry. It is old enough to give me a feeling of rediscovered tradition, but modern enough to follow. Eileen Bolton sounds fascinating, I'd be driving up to North Wales to find her, if she hadn't died 25 years ago. Her…

Wool dyed with Wolf lichen My brother and I are working on a special monthslong video project focused on my Mom and the story behind her role in creating the first mushroom dye book, written by Mir…