Eucalyptus Dyed Scarf

By Paivi Suomi on December 18, 2015

Having read India Flint’s wonderful book on eco colour and printing, I discovered that you can get some beautiful natural dyes using Eucalyptus leaves. So during a recent holiday in Corfu, I gathered a bag full of Eucalyptus leaves from the trees that were growing along the roadsides and thought I would give it a try. The leaves had dried out by the time I started this project. So I sprayed them with a bit of water to moisten them. Then I layed the leaves out onto one side of a silk scarf that I had dampened with water.

Eucalyptus Dye on Silk

When I had spread out all the Eucalyptus leaves, I turned the scarf over to cover the leaves.

Eucalyptus Dye on Silk

I then rolled the scarf around a cardboard tube.

Eucalyptus Leaf Dye on Silk

I tightly wrapped the dye package with linen yarn so that all of the bundle was covered.

Eucalyptus Leaf Dye

I then placed the silk scarf dye package into a dyepot and let it simmer for a few hours – no mordant was used. Then I turned the heat off and put a lid onto the pot. It can take several days for all of the colour to disperse from the Eucalyptus leaves and to imprint onto the silk fabric. I let this dyepot sit untouched for about 3 weeks. The dypeot will get a bit smelly as the dye ferments, so it is best to leave it outside while the dye matures.