Rebecca Desnos

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Recent Posts

  • How to dye even colours (and why you might not want to)
  • Avocado Dye : FAQs / Top tips for pink
  • New napkins and thoughts on creating less waste
  • A shift in mind and space – what’s the future of the magazine?
  • Plants Are Magic – the magazine

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  • I've been keeping better records of my dye samples this year. I use this small notebook and I just staple the fabric swatches to the page and write notes ✏️ It only takes a few minutes per page and it's really enjoyable. . I will staple in leaves as I go 🌿 and press flowers when I come to dyeing with flowers in the summer 🌼 It's going to be a lovely book to look through in the future. . What's your favourite method for recording your dye experiments?
  • Some recent plant dye colours 🌿🥑🍁🌸💜🖤 . All the fabric is plant derived (cellulose) and pretreated with soya milk as per the instructions in my eBook/book Botanical Colour at your Fingertips 🌱 . I'll give a run-though of fabric + dyes for anyone who is interested 🌿🌸😊 . Top row: 1. Avocado skin on linen, 2. Eucalyptus + iron modified on bamboo silk, 3. Lavender on bamboo silk. . Middle row: 1. Eucalyptus + iron modified on linen, 2. Avocado skin on bamboo silk, 3. Eucalyptus on linen. . Bottom row: 1. Lavender on linen 2. Eucalyptus on bamboo silk. 3. Avocado skin + modified with iron on organic cotton. . I've cut little squares out of these pieces of fabric to record the colours in my swatch book with notes, and now these larger pieces will be added to the pile for my quilt (which I am hand stitching at an incredibly slow rate of just a couple of pieces a week at the moment 🙊). . I love all the different textures together and plan to add more texture into the quilt. At the moment it's mostly cotton... but is calling out for the rougher linen and the silky bamboo textures. . What's your favourite fabric to dye ~ at the moment or always? 💚
  • Here are the rinsed and dried eucalyptus dye samples 🌿 I think I'm going to have a few weeks of eucalyptus excitement ahead of me with all the leaves I have 😄 I want to dye everything grey now 😍 . These fabric pieces are linen and bamboo and have all been pretreated in soya milk, as per the methods in my book Botanical Colour at your Fingertips (also available as an instant download eBook on my website). . The sand colour was from the first dye bath, the orangey colour was from the same dye used a second time, and the grey was made by adding ferrous sulphate crystals into the second lot of dye dye. Tannins (naturally that natural occur in the leaves) + iron make the most incredibly deep shades. . I'm going to add some samples into my book now.. and staple this leaf onto a page too 🍃 This year I'm keeping better records of my dye colours with notes ✨ I'll share some of my pages with you soon. . Hope you have a lovely Easter Day if you celebrate, or just a lovely Sunday. . Are you planning any crafting for today? Or maybe a lovely walk? 💚
  • I just took some fabric samples out of my eucalyptus dye pots ✨ I'm so excited about these colours so had to share with you right away 😄🌿🌿 . I'll start at the beginning of the story.. The sandy colour at the bottom was from the first heating in the dye bath... I admit I was quite disappointed with this colour. Surely these intensely scented leaves would give more colour than this?! I noticed that the dye bath seemed to be darkening which often happens with plant dyes.. so I did a second round of dyeing. . The middle colour is from the second use of the dye bath, with the fabric left in over night. It's developed a rich apricot/brick colour. . And now the grey fabric at the top of the table 🖤 I squealed with excitement when this colour formed! This colour was made with a tiny sprinkle of ferrous sulphate (iron) crystals in the dye bath. The interaction of the iron made black spots in the dye instantly, and after a quick mix, the entire dye was dark grey. . Now I think that everything in my home will be over dyed with eucalyptus + iron. I just love this deep colour! (I've dried a sample quickly next to the radiator and the final shade is a soft charcoal, with a warm undertone). . The leaves on the left of the table are the way they look after being in the dye pot over night (slightly orange in colour now) vs the fresh green leaves on the right 🌿🌿 . Next week I'll try some bundle dyeing. I'm going to get a lot of fun from these leaves 🌿 . Hope you enjoyed the detailed notes about my dyeing 😅 I'm sure you've had many of these exciting moments... it's what keeps me coming back to plant dyeing over and over again ☺️ What's been your most exciting natural dyeing moment in the past? . What are you dyeing or making this weekend?
  • Little helping hands putting the eucalyptus leaves in my dye pot 🌿 You'll see in my last post that I carried home armfuls of branches the other day as I spotted someone pruning their tree in their front garden 💚👌🏽 It's nice to add to the hashtag I started quite some time ago ~ #mylocaldyeplants 😄🌿 . I've been simmering these leaves this morning -- our whole home smells of eucalyptus and it probably will for the next few days... I have lots of dyeing planned for this weekend ✨ . I'm planning on modifying the dye with iron and doing some bundle dyeing too. It's been a couple of years since I bundle dyed with eucalyptus and I can't wait. Fingers crossed these leaves give some nice colours in one way or another. . What's your favourite way to dye with eucalyptus leaves?
  • The other day I went out for a walk and came back with armfuls of eucalyptus leaves 🌿🌿🌿 Now all the eucalyptus dyeing can begin 😄 . There's a beautiful eucalyptus tree in a garden just around the corner from my home. Every time I walk down the road I keep my fingers crossed that the owners are pruning the tree so I can ask for some cuttings. Well, on this occasion they actually were and the man gladly gave me three enormous branches. (I couldn't carry anymore as I was out walking with my baby 😂) He said he prunes the tree once a year to keep the size under control, so I was very lucky to walk past at just the right time! . I have enough leaves for weeks and weeks of dyeing now. I've never had so many plants in one go! I'll think I'll put some stems in vases, press some leaves for future bundle dyeing, and make a big dye pot with some leaves next week. Endless fun! . I still can't believe I walked past the house at just the right moment - so lucky! 💚 . Have you had any serendipitous encounters with plants like this? Where something happens by chance and it was just meant to be?
  • I've been collecting oak galls over recent weeks and can't wait to experiment with them! This feels like a little pot of gold - I'm just so happy with my collection ✨✨✨ . They produce a light colour dye that is rich in tannins so they are a natural mordant. Another dye colour can then be layered over the top. They also react well the iron producing lovely dark shades. . Oak galls are little growths that form on the stems of oak trees when wasps lay their eggs. The gall forms around the egg and eventually the fully formed insect makes a hole in the gall and escapes. All of these galls have little holes so it's good to know that I don't have any hiding insects in there 👍🏽 . These were quite easy to spot on the bare trees. I could just see little "marbles" hanging off the branches. As soon as the leaves form on the trees (very soon!) then they will be harder to spot. . Have you dyed with oak galls before? 💚 Or made ink with them?
  • I must get another pot of avocado dye going this week! We eat so many every week that I have a freezer drawer half full 🥑🙊 . If you've been wanting to try avocado dyeing, I have a blog post up on my website with lots of tips for getting pinks and FAQs. It's an extension of the chapter on avocado dyeing that's in my book 💚 Pop over to my blog on my website to have a read ☺️🥑💕 . I often get asked how I can afford to eat so many avocados as they are expensive. It's true, they are costly, especially since I only buy organic avocados. But as a vegan family, I feel that avocados offer one of the best sources of plant-based fat and nourishment for us. In addition to avocados, we also eat a lot of nuts/nut butters, seeds/seed butters and olives for other fats. Good food is our top priority, as it directly impacts our health and wellbeing. . Interestingly the avocados that we buy from @abelandcole are actually grown in Spain which isn't far from the UK at all. So they're not really an "exotic" import when they are grown so close to home. . When we talk about it being best to "eat local", we have to decide what this means for us. For my family, I'm satisfied with buying food that's imported from other European countries. Although I will always opt for UK grown fruit and vegetables when I can. One day (soon) I hope we will grow a lot of our own food, but for now we have to be sensible and decide what is best for us as individuals. Avocados offer amazing nourishment for children, so they are our top priority when I do the shopping every week. We all have different priorities, . Given the number of avocados that we eat, you can probably see now why I dye with them so much 😄🥑✨ . Anyway, I hope my FAQ blog post on avocado dyeing is helpful to anyone who hasn't already read it (I wrote it a few weeks ago). . Have you tried dyeing with your favourite food? I love how our tastes in food can determine the colour of our clothes, don't you? 😄✨

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