Wild Color, Revised and Updated Edition: The Complete Guide to Making and Using Natural Dyes [Anglais] [Broché]

There is no question that this one is useful. It gives the specifics of what to use and how. The day this book arrived was a garbage day and I had just dug up my dahlia tubers and put the stems in the recycle and out to the curb. Then I sat down browse through the book. At 10 O'Clock that night I was out at the curb in my bathrobe digging through the recycle bin to reclaim my dahlia stems. The dye from those came out just great. I tried them several ways on different wools and then spun yarn. I have also used other materials from the garden that were covered in this book, all with good results. If you want to try your hand at dyeing with natural products, this is the book you want.
Bill Isakson
Richmond, CA

I just got this for Christmas today! :D And I had to stop opening everything else as I flipped through to discover the number and vibrancy of colors you can get out of plants I never expected there to be abundant pigment in. I am a budding medieval recreator, and a college student on a budget, so I'm definitely looking forward to being able to save money on making garb by buying white natural fabrics in bulk and snagging a few plants so I can achieve period dyes. (Not to mention one day save money by just dyeing and making my own modern clothes.)

I also watch Jenny's blog through an RSS feed (that's how I found out this was being updated and reprinted and threw it on my wishlist them moment it came up on Amazon). She talks about some interesting little projects some times, very informative. Check it out! [...]

This is an update of the 1999 edition of this very detailed, very thorough book on natural dyeing.

I don't have a copy of the original, so I can't tell you exactly how or why this is different, but what I can tell you is that this is an exhaustive overview of the dyeing process. Starting with a history of dyes, and moving into the techniques, it explores everything you could ever want to know. Or so I assume.

The book goes into great detail about how to prepare your leaves, roots, barks, and petals for dyeing. What kind of water to use (and how your water's pH balance affects the process). Whether to use mordants, and which ones. The differences in dyeing animal fibers and vegetable fibers. The effects of color modifiers ... all of this is explained in depth.

Then she gets to specific plants. She provides a photo of what they look like, where to find them, and color swatches for the colors you can expect from them, depending on the process you choose. The photos are lovely to look at, and the swatches clear-they're of the "paint chip" variety, not photos of actual, dyed yarn.

This section is sorted alphabetically by the Latin name for each dye, and it took me a while to figure that out. Each page lists the Latin name in small type at the top, and then the common name (Hollyhock, Madder, etc.) after, in a larger typeface, so that it's the familiar name that catches your eye. It took me a couple passes to realize that the book wasn't sorted by color themes or by the easily-read names at the top of the page, but the smaller, easy-to-ignore Latin names. I wonder why they went this way, or at least why they then kept the Latin so small, but ... that's what Indexes are for, and this has a good one.

Ultimately, this is a beautiful book. If you're at all interested in dyeing-especially with natural sources rather than bottles of store-bought stuff that is harsher for the environment-you owe it to yourself to take a look.