What is dyeing?
Natural Dyeing: Is the process of using plant material , chemical/mineral mordants, heat and water to extract the colours from the plants and fix it into fabric and fibres.
Synthetic Dyeing: Is the process of using synthetic dye powders, minerals and chemicals to fix colour to fabric and fibres,
Patterns can come from using resists such as traditional Japanese Shibori techniques, as well as Eco-Printing which was heavily researched and started by textile artist India Flint https://www.indiaflint.com/ Eco printing is a great method as it uses significantly less plant material to dye fabric and the process of natural dyeing and eco-printing demands that the dyer slow down, learn the plants in their area, how to identify them and how to ethically harvest. For guidelines on how to ethically harvest read Dr. Robin Kimmerer’s work “The Honourable Harvest” as well as her two books on Indigenous relation to land, healing the land and ecology.
