Plant Dyes

A

while back I put together a big co-op wood order with a group of friends. This was a huge task, but terribly exciting to receive a giant box of little people, bowls, rings, handles, etc in them mail. I have a billion different ideas in my head on what to do with the different pieces of wood and will post them as I finish them. The other day, in the middle of my gnome making it struck me that it might be fun to attempt to naturally dye the wood. I did a little research and discovered that most of the materials I could use wouldn't be growing this time of year in my winter state. So I made due with what I could buy at the store. I did 6 dyes. (shown in the picture in this order)
1. Blackberries
2. Spinich
3. Beats
4. Red Onion
5. Turmeric
6. Paprika

For the berries I mixed 1 cup of water to two teaspoons of salt and boiled. For the plants I did 2 cups water to half cup vinegar and boiled. As you can see the spinach, red onion (which I had read would give me green), and paprika didn't turn out too great, but the blackberries, beats, and turmeric turned out great! I also dyed 3 of K's diapers with the extra dye. (they are berry, beat, and turmeric).
All in all it was fun. The boiling raw onion made my eye water, but I'm quite happy with my results.