Wild Colours - Exciting colours from Natural Dyes
Wild Colours natural dyes > natural dye extracts > using greenweed extract
1) What is Dyers Greenweed?
Dyers Greenweed (Genista tinctoria) is a perennial shrub similar to the ornamental broom with attractive yellow flowers in the summer. The dye comes from the leaves.
2) What colours does Dyers Greenweed extract produce?
Dyers Greenweed extract produces brilliant lemon yellows. For bright oranges over dye it with madder and bright greens over dye it with woad. This is the yellow dye favoured by the Vikings.
3) How do I use Dyers Greenweed extract?
Wash and mordant the wool (follow Scouring the wool and Mordanting with alum for details).
First make a paste with 1 teaspoon (5 grams) Dyers Greenweed extract and a small amount of warm water. Fill a saucepan with water and add the Dyers Greenweed extract paste. Mix about one third of a teaspoon of chalk (calcium carbonate) with a small amount of boiling water in a container and add to the pot with the Dyers Greenweed.
Add your pre-wetted mordanted fibre. Bring the dye bath to a gentle simmer and then keep at that temperature for 45 to 60 minutes, stirring gently from time to time. Leave overnight to cool.
4) How much wool does Dyers Greenweed extract dye?
20 grams of Dyers Greenweed extract will dye one 100 gram hank of Blue-faced Leicester superwash wool greenish gold and another hank medium yellow. Colours vary with fibre and water.
5) What is Dyers Greenweed extract?
Our Dyers Greenweed extract is shipped as a dry dark greenish yellow crystalline powder that is very stable and of high colour fastness. It is produced using processes that respect the environment and comply with organic textile certifications. Our Dyers Greenweed dye extract is an approved dyestuff for the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS 4.0) and is of consistent high quality through certified cultivation of a pure plant (Europam: the European certification for medicinal herbs) and a high level of process control during production.
Learn more about dyeing with natural dye extracts:
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Updated on 22 April 2024
Website & photos by Mike Roberts ©2006-24 Wild Colours natural dyes