I was reminded last week, whilst walking on the cliffs in Northumberland, how my passion for natural dyeing all started with dandelions.

It was a sunny Sunday in mid-May 2014.  I was living in the Netherlands and along with the rest of the Netherlands, I  spent my afternoon cycling on the local cycle paths. While I was out I noticed a huge patch of dandelions. Something switched in my brain and I thought I will come back and pick them and try out some natural dyeing.

Naeve, I know!

But I was very enthusiastic and there was such a lot to pick. It wasn’t the most successful experiment I have done as I was woefully underprepared.  Here is a link to the blog I wrote at the time.

The dandelions I picked. What a glorious colour !

My pale shade of dandelion on wool, cotton, and silk.  Not so glorious.

I had caught the bug and went on to read and research and experiment.  I  soon learned that dandelions are not the best choice of dye material out in the hedgerows.

In the five years since then, a lot has happened to me. I retired, had four beautiful grandchildren, moved back to the UK, and had a big renovation done on my house. Throughout all this, I  continued to learn about natural dyeing and to experiment with lots of other dyestuffs.

I have discovered that I like it best when I dye with the material I have picked locally or grown it in my garden.   Just like my first dandelion experiment.

I thought with my chemical engineering background, I could get a grip of the chemistry of natural dyeing.   How wrong I was, it is just too horrendously complex.

I have quite a stock of stored dye materials. No dandelions at all though.

And loads of dyed wool fibre and prefelts ready for felting.

Here just a small batch of prefelts ready for an indigo dye tomorrow.

I have made a number of naturally dyed pieces I am really proud of.  Here is just two.

Even after all this I sometimes I think I am just scratching the surface of this complex technique and I still don’t know why the field of dandelions spoke to me. But it is good to be reminded of how it all started and realize just how far I have come in the last 5 years.  Just this week  I have been dyeing with elderberry leaves, dock leaves, hawthorn flowers, and onion skins.