Wild Colours - Exciting colours from Natural Dyes
Buy Natural Dyes from dye plants
Natural dyes produce an extraordinary diversity of rich and complex colours as well as unexpected results, making them exciting to use.
What dyes should I choose? (click on a photo)
Red Colours
Madder, Brazilwood, Cochineal, Safflower, Ladies' Bedstraw, Dyers' Woodruff & St John's Wort
Yellow Dyes
Weld, Dyers Greenweed, Coreopsis & Chamomile, Fustic, Tansy, Dock, Goldenrod, Pomegranate, Onion
What are natural dyes?
Most natural dyes come from dye plants, the best-known ones including madder, brazilwood, logwood, weld, woad and indigo. Some natural dyes, such as cochineal, come from insects, or from mineral sources.
Madder, weld and other dye plants have been used for thousands of years. Until the late 1800s when synthetic dyes came into common use, textile colours came from the use of natural dyes. Natural dyeing can, however, easily become the future. Natural dyes are a renewable resource and not dependent on petroleum as are many synthetic dyes.
Providing alum is used as a mordant, plant dyes use no toxic or polluting chemicals, and the organic matter left over from dye plants can be put on the compost. Combined with the natural colours of wool and cotton, natural fabric dyes such as indigo and cochineal are arguably the only possible colours for dyeing organic textiles. Read more about natural dyes and buy natural dyes here.
Dyeing with Natural Dye Extracts
Although it is very exciting to dye fibre directly from plants that you have grown yourself, natural dye extracts are economical, very concentrated and easy to repeat a colour. They save time as they do not require lengthy pre-soaking and simmering, and dye extracts can be mixed to obtain different dye colours. Read more about natural dye extracts here and buy dye extracts here.
How do I start with natural dyes? (opens a new page)
What are the differences between natural & synthetic dyes? (opens a new page)
Customer Comments:
Thank you for your prompt response to my order for dye seeds which I received today.
I am writing to say that I find your websites very interesting and will definitely be making other orders very soon! Best wishes and "bonne continuation" (as the French say!). Wendy from France
I loved your website, we can feel your heart in it and it's great. Audrey from France
"Fascinating and useful site. Must have taken a lot of effort to research and maintain it.’ David Finnegan, Southport
‘Brilliant service. Finding your website really informative.’ Claire from Shipley, UK
'Wow! Thank you so much for sending me my parcel in record time – I was amazed and delighted! I am just starting out with natural dyeing of our own alpacas' yarn and so it is very exciting to be in a position to get going.' Carole from Cairndinnis Alpacas
'Just to let you know that I've been really impressed with your service and the quality of the materials and information on the website.' Clare http://clarabellacraft.blogspot.com/
“Thank you for the super quick delivery!” Estelle Faust, Harrow
“Hello! You have a wonderful website! So much information! I love all the dyes you have and your product list is fantastic! Just what I'm looking for.” Anne McEnroe, California, USA
'I received the parcel two days ego. All is perfect. Thank you very much. And special thanks for flyers. I visited your other websites and found some very interesting things!' Dmitry Sukhoverkov, Moscow, Russia
Shipping:
We ship orders by 1st class parcel post 2 days per week, usually on Mondays and Thursdays, orders must arrive before midday to be shipped on those days. Parcel post is not intended to be a next day service but orders can also be sent Special Delivery (see link).
2024
25 Sep
Indigo cakes reduced to £10 (for 70-90gm)
16 Apr
Indigo cakes - price reduced by £12!
2023
25 Dec
Buy buttons corrected
22 Dec
Dyes orders: We are on holiday from Fri 22 Dec to Mon 01 Jan. Orders received after midday on Thursday 21 Dec, will be sent out in January.
24 July
Save £5.25 on 100g whole Cochineal
03 July
25 May
Pomegranate rind reduced in price for limited period
19 Feb
Titanium oxalate reduced in price
03 Feb
Aluminium acetate 250 gm back in stock
2022
03 Oct
NEW - Tamil Indigo in chunks - a quality indigo at a cheaper price
22 Aug
Dyes orders: We are on a short break from Tues 23 August to Sun 4 September. Any orders received after midday on Monday 22 Aug, will be sent out in early September.
2021
August
Reminder: From October 2020, we are in the studio & shipping orders only 2 days a week, usually Mondays & Thursdays (except for public holidays). Orders on Mondays & Thursdays must be received before 12 midday to go that day.
10 Feb
Some recent Airmail orders have been taking over 8 weeks to US addresses
05 Jan
England is in Lockdown from 05 Jan for an extended period. We continue to trade but orders may take longer to pack, to ship & to arrive!
2020
03 Dec
1st class post and Airmail continue to be slow for the foreseeable future - see our note of 12 Oct, below.
05 Nov
England is starting a 4 week lockdown today but WildColours is continuing to trade! Orders may take longer to ship due to the high volume of orders being received.
from Oct
Covid19: We are in the studio & shipping orders only 2 days a week at the moment, usually Monday & Thursday.
12 Oct
Covid19: We regret to report that UK 1st class post is often very slow at the moment and some is taking 2 weeks or more! This appears to be especially a problem in London. Some Airmail is also taking a long time and may take 5 to 8 weeks to the US and at least 3 to 5 weeks in Europe.
Product news:-
If you don’t see a catalog, Refresh the page (F5)
2021
06 Sep
NEW - UK-grown Weld available
02 Sep
20 April
2020
29 Jul
15 Jul
27 Jun
Japanese indigo seeds are back in stock
19 Jun
Loom needles & books available
18 Jun
Natural Dyes now available
15 Jun
Natural Dye Kits now available
15 Jun
Dye plant seeds now available
11 Jun
Indigo dyes and watercolours available
10 Jun
Quilt weaver looms & Rakestraw spinners now available
09 Jun
Mordants page now available
08 Jun
Dye Extracts are now available
08 Jun
We are re-opening the Dye catalogs (but working part-time)
23 Mar
New visitors this month
Visitors to Wild Colours Natural Dyes
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UK Shipping £4.95p on orders up to £100 & free over £100 in UK
[shipping £2.95 on very small orders up to £2.95 in value]
Delivery to Europe + rest of World click here
Overseas orders sent by Tracked Airmail
Special & Next Day Delivery
Updated on 25 September 2024
Website & photos by Mike Roberts ©2006-24 Wild Colours natural dyes