Natural Dyes.

Natural Dyes
By Judy Hardman & Sally Pinhey
Published by Crowood Press
ISBN: 978-1-84797-100-5
Price: £14.99
Reviewed by Jenny Lewis

This neat, practical, hands-on book is an invaluable source of information for the enthusiastic yarn dyer and will appeal to beginners and experienced alike.

In whichever part of the UK you live, you will be sure to find quite a large section of the 55 common garden and hedgerow dye plants named in the book. Each plant is accompanied by a beautiful full page illustration to help in its identification plus a small photograph of each plant ‘in situ’.

The text describes the interesting history of each plant, methods of dyeing and the colours each plant produces – ranging from palest yellows, deep yellows, oranges, greens, khaki, buff, grey, pinks, lilacs and sadly only one blue. Dyers will need to use synthetic dyes to produce a true blue colour if that is the look they are after.

Chapters one and two cover the equipment required for home dyeing including safety precautions, preparation, mordents, fixatives and dye baths, etc. Chapter 3 is a guide to dyeing fibres for felting. All the chapters are illustrated.

The appendices are invaluable and have a dye plant index, conversion of measurements, glossary of terms and a list of suppliers.

There are plans for five garden layouts for growing dye plants, so that you will always have plenty of natural coloured dyes at your fingertips. If you enjoy dyeing and also have green fingers - this lovely little book will appeal to you.