With this tutorial on solar dyeing with plants you will learn how to extract beautiful colours from different plants using only the sun to drive the process. This is known as solar dyeing, it is a simple and safe alternative to the more common dyeing technique of heating dyestuffs on a stove to extract the dye. This is great way to passively dye your fiber and is fun crafting project for kids too. No more worrying about the temperature, stinking up the house with dyebath fumes, or tying up the stove with pots and pans. Just throw your dyestuffs into a jar and let it sit on a windowsill or in your yard to do its thing.
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What is solar dyeing?
Solar dyeing is the process of extracting dye from dyestuffs using the heat of the sun to heat the surrounding water the dyestuff is steeped in to draw out the dye. Your geographical location and time of year will influence the temperature your solar dye reaches – this will also affect your resulting colour. Using a glass jar and placing it in the sunniest location possible is important to maximize dyeing potential. The process although passive, is much slower than the more common method of heating your dyestuffs over a stove or burner. Solar dyeing can take weeks, rather than hours, to reach a maximum colour depth. However, the bonus it that a long drawn out process can yield different colours and is much more hands off which takes up less time having to managing the process.
Solar dyeing steps
Step 1. Collect your dyestuffs
Anything that is a reputable dyestuff is likely to work for solar dyeing. This includes food stuff such as tea bags, avocado skins and pits, red and brown onion skins, black beans, carrot tops, turmeric powder, coffee grounds, and leafy greens.
Wild foraged dyestuffs are a great source of free dye, my favorite include apple tree leaves, chamomile, queen anne’s lace, oak leaves, walnut leaves, alder leaves, and tree bark from fruit trees, alder and birch.
If you don’t have time for collecting wild foraged dyestuffs or want a tried and true colour, you are likely to be more satisfied with buying a natural dye for solar dyeing.
Note: There are many dyestuff that work well for solar dyeing, and others that don’t. I have had success with yellows such as Queen Anne’s Lace and Chamomile flower heads, and oranges such as orange peko tea and onion skins. However, not all dyestuffs lend themselves to cooler dyeing temperatures. I have had poor results with some dyestuffs– the outcome was not what I was hoping for (see below for more details).
Step 2. Gather your equipment
Apart from the dyestuffs, you will need:
As many jars as dyestuffs. I use 1 gallon jars, you can buy them here Gloves to avoid staining your hands Weighing scales to weigh out the amount of dyestuffs, mordant and fiber A stirring rod. I use doweling Labels. I used elastic bands and write in the rain paper for my labels White ladle Colander and gauze for straining dyestuffs Tongs Notebook Alum mordant. You will need alum to mordant your fiber before dyeing it so that it takes up the dye Fibers and fabrics. I recommend silk and 100% wool yarn. However, linen and cotton work too, but I find the colour is more subdued with these fibers Modifiers (optional). Chemicals that modify the colour are mordants such as copper and iron, and washing soda. Safety gear should be used when dealing with mordants: face mask, Safety glasses
Weigh the dyestuff and write the amount on the label. Also make note of the date you started the solar dye and the weight of fiber you added to the solar dye jar. These notes will help you replicate your results in the future.
Tip: It is also advisable to document the process in a notebook, where you can include your thoughts, ideas, modifications to the process, and whether it was a success or a disappointment.
Idea: Country Life suggests placing a cardboard box around the jars and lining it with aluminum foil and facing into the sun to increase the sun’s heat that penetrates the jar.
Step 3. Prepare your fiber
You will need to mordant your fiber before solar dyeing it. I recommend using alum to do so. Alum is much safer than other metallic salt mordants and does a much better job than fixatives such as salt or vinegar in making a dye permanently colourfast.
Use 10% alum to silk and wool fiber weight (e.g 100 grams of fiber requires 10 grams of alum), or 15% for linen and cotton. Avoid using more alum than this because in excess alum can damage your fibers.
Step 4. Steep your dyestuffs
Add your dyestuffs to the jar and then enough water to cover the contents. Making sure that everything in the jar is submerged will reduce the risk of mold from growing.
Tip: If the weather is cool out, you can add hot water to the jar to speed up the process initially.
Once the dyestuffs have steeped and the water is a colour you are happy with (this may take from hours to weeks), you may want to strain the liquid before adding the yarn or you run the risk of getting bits of plant stuck in the yarn. This isn’t a problem with dyestuffs such as onion skins, tea bags or avocado skins, that are large chunks and unlikely to get caught I the yarn. However, if you are using flowers like Queen Anne’s Lace and chamomile that have tiny petals you will need to make sure they do not get caught in the yarn.
An alternative to straining that I prefer is to place the dyestuffs in a nylon mesh bag before steeping it in water. With this method you don’t need to remove the dyestuffs as the yarn is dyeing.
Note: If you are dyeing with a fine powder, such as turmeric powder you will need to double straining it before adding your fiber. First, use gauze to stain the larger particles, then a tea towel to strain finer particles. If you just use a tea towel, it will become clogged, so the first straining with the gauze it necessary.
Step 5. Add wet fiber
If you haven’t just mordanted your fiber, you must soak your fiber overnight in water to ensure that the dye is taken up evenly by the fiber, unless you want a blotchy look.
Idea: Try adding copper or iron nails to your solar dye jar to get darker shades and sometimes completely different colours. If you would like to see how Jenny Dean’s experiments went with this, you can follow along on her blog.
Step 6. Passively dye the fiber
Stir the jar every day and check on the colour depth. Once you are satisfied with the colour of the fiber, take it out and move onto the next step. If there is still colour in the dye solution you can add more yarn after taking out the yarn you originally added. The second batch will likely be paler as the dye gets used up.
Tip: If you don’t like the colour or intensity of your fiber after a week or two, put the lot into your dye pot and simmer it on the stove for a few hours. This may help as some dyes only take if the yarn is heated.
Step 7. Cure the fiber
Once you have removed your fiber from the solar dye jar, squeeze it out and lay it on a towel in a shaded ventilated area to dry. You want to give the dye time to cure or set before rinsing the excess dye from the fiber.
Step 8. Rinse the fiber
After a few days of curing, you can rinse your fiber with fresh cool water. If you are likely to be washing your fiber in the laundry, I recommend using some pH neutral soap to make sure you wash out all the dye the dye that has not chemically bonded to the fiber. This is ensure that your other laundry garments are accidentally stained or dyed!
Notes on solar dyeing with specific dyestuffs
Note: All fiber was mordanted with alum before dyeing. Without a mordant the fastness of your dye may be compromised.
Onion skins solar dyeing
Onion skins work really well for solar dyeing. I used 19 grams of onion skins for the solar dyebath and 15 grams of wool yarn. I let the onion skins steep for a week before adding the yarn and then left that to dye for a week before removing the yarn. The maximum temperature reached was 37 degrees Celsius and the month of dyeing was late august. The resulting colour was a lovely orange, the same colour as the skins.
As a second exhaust I added linen, more yarn, roving, and silk. As you can see that all created different colours from bright yellow to earthy dark orange, even though they are in the same dyebath. This goes to show you that the colour also depends on the properties of the fiber as much as anything else.
Orange peko black tea solar dyeing
Orange peko tea makes a gorgeous dark orange. I used 20 tea bags (60 grams of tea), and 9 grams of wool yarn. Just like the onion skins, the tea bags were steeped for a week before adding the yarn, however the dye seeps into the water immediately so you likely don’t need to wait so long. The maximum temperature reached was 37 degrees Celsius and the month of dyeing was late august.
As there was plenty of dye still left in the jar, a second batch was dyed with the teabags removed. This included linen, roving and silk.
Avocado solar dyeing
The dried avocado skin solar dye did not perform as I anticipated. I used 25 grams of dried avocado skins (or 10.5 half skins) and 14 grams of wool yarn. The dye extraction was slow but after a week there was a reddish colour to the water so I left the skins in and added the yarn. The maximum temperature reached was 37 degrees Celsius and the month of dyeing was late august. After a week I got a dirty pale yellow colour and not the avocado pink I had been expecting.
I hoped to make a nicer colour by adding washing soda dissolved in boiling water. The dye bath turned a deep red but the yarn only turned a very pale pink that didn’t take once squeezed out.
Tip: To make the most of this dyestuff, simmer it for a few hours so the yarn takes up the dye better and yield a nice pink colour.
Queen Anne’s Lace solar dyeing
Warning: Queen Anne’s Lace has quite a few poisonous look-alikes. Make sure you are confident in your identification of this plant before using it.
Queen Anne’s Lace is a powerful dyestuff, and has the potential for vivid day glow yellows. I used 300 grams of just the flower heads and 15 grams of fiber.The dye was extracted within a couple of days and although it looks pink it dyes yellow. I strained out the flower heads after a week and then added the yarn. I then let the yarn dye for four days. The maximum temperature reached was 37 degrees Celsius and the month of dyeing was late august.
Idea: To compare the results of this process to the regular natural dyeing method, check out my article on Dyeing with Queen Anne’s Lace.
Note: I cut the dyeing phase short ( I was going to leave it for a full week) because the surface of the dye began to form mold or yeast even though I had strained it. I haven’t conducted the experiment yet, but it might be avoided by filling the liquid to the top of the jar as described by Caitlin Ffrench here.
Tip: Add washing soda to get a deep golden yellow colour.
Scentless chamomile solar dyeing
Although scentless chamomile is not known for its dye potential, it is in fact fantastic! It is an invasive in my area and grows in abundance. I used 200 grams of flower heads to 15 grams of yarn, and a couple of grams of linen and silk. The dye was released within a few hours of adding water and after three days I added the yarn while leaving the flower head still in the jar. A strong clear lemon yellow was my reward, and the darker linen fabric was placed in a washing soda bath to deepen the colour. Maximum temperature recorded was 37 degrees and the month of dyeing was early September.
Idea: To compare the results of this process to the regular natural dyeing method, check out my article on Dyeing with chamomile.
Eucalyptus bark solar dyeing
Similar to the avocado solar dyeing, I was disappointed with my solar dyeing results for eucalyptus bark. I used 56 grams of bark and 11 grams of wool yarn. I steep the bark for a week before adding the yarn; I did not remove the bark when I added the yarn. The dye solution looked a nice reddish brown, like black tea, but the yarn did not take up the dye well. The maximum temperature reached was 37 degrees Celsius and the month of dyeing was late august. My result was a very place orangy-beige colour instead of a deep rusty orange I had hoped for.
I hoped to make a nicer colour by adding washing soda dissolved in boiling water to the dye. The dye bath turned a deep red but the yarn only turned a very pale pinkish brown.
Tip: To make the most of this dyestuff, simmer it for a few hours so the yarn takes up the dye.
My thoughts on dyestuffs that don’t work so well
High temperatures are needed for some dyes to take to the fiber, and I believe that avocado and eucalyptus bark are two of those. The problem was not the dye extraction phase, but the dyeing of the fiber phase.
My eucalyptus bark and avocado skin solar dyes didn’t work out as I had hoped. When you dye the fiber at a higher temperature, eucalyptus bark yield a lovely pinkish brown colour, and avocado gives a pink or salmon colour. In contrast, my eucalyptus dye was very pale and disappointing, while the avocado solar dye gave me a pale yellow!
After realizing this, I strained out the dyestuff and put the dye and yarn into a dyepot each and simmered them on the stove for a few hours. Then I soaked them overnight and re-simmered them in the morning and let them soak again for a few hours. The result was much better.
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