In this tutorial you’ll learn how to simply treat and dye wood to create a whole range of natural colors. This can also be a fun activity to do with children as a seasonal craft- dyeing forever wood eggs in the spring, candy colored wood beads in the summer, tannin dyed wooden acorns and peg dolls in the autumn, and naturally dyed wood ornaments in winter.

This tutorial covers multiple mordant and pretreatment methods with tannins, alum and soymilk alllowing for full flexibility of the process to suit your available time, ethics and expectations for color durability.

Included in the tutorial:

-Supplies list & links to my favorite materials suppliers

-Detailed step by step instructions for extracting tannin

-Detailed step by step instructions for extracting dye

-Dyeing instructions

-Instructions for sealing & finishing wood for durability & health of the finished wood items over their useful life.

The dyeing can be achieved with dried or fresh dyestuffs. Accessible food waste dyes like avocado pits and skins and onion skins can be employed, as well as locally available plants that can be collected in your region- I’ve loved using invasive plants in my local bioregion such as wild mustard flowers- putting invasive plants to good creative use! Try what you have on hand- oaks, eucalyptus, and wild cochineal are some of our local favorite local dyestuffs for wood. A small amount of dyestuff really can go a long way when dyeing smaller wooden items.

The indigo vat can also be utilized to successfully dye wood quite effectively for blues, greens and purples in combination with yellow & pink mordant dyes. For more on working with Indigo see my Indigo Vat Online Workshop Here and my Indigo Vat Lesson Here.

After purchase of ths Tutorial you will receive an email with the download.