Journey's In Natural Dyeing, techniques for creating color at home by Kristine Vejar and Adrienne Rodriguez with Sarah Ollikkala

Journeys in Natural Dyeing shares the story of Kristine Vejar and Adrienne Rodriguez’s travels to four countries: Iceland, Mexico, Japan, and Indonesia, where they visited natural dyers who use their locally-sourced dyes in dramatically different environments to create textiles that evoke beauty, a connection to the land on which they live, and showcase their mastery of skill. This book includes profiles of the artists met.

From their California-based studio, Vejar and Rodriguez used their own locally-grown and gathered dyestuffs, from leaves to fungi, and utilized techniques, from extraction to fermentation, to create over 400 shades of color. This book shares their process and includes recipes and projects to create all of these colors and more. In addition, you will learn how to use your own natural environment to create deep, beautiful colors. You will see your neighborhood in a whole new way.

In this book, you will learn how to:

• create the widest palette possible using dye sourced locally through shifts in pH, the use of iron water, combining dyes, and using naturally-colored fibers
• identify and gather mushrooms for dyeing
• grow, harvest, compost, and ferment Persicaria tinctoria (indigo)
• extract indigo pigment from Persicaria tinctoria to use at a later date
• use plant-based mordants
• create concentrates from locally sourced barks and leaves, such as Birch and Maple, for room-temperature dyeing
• and more!

Journeys In Natural Dyeing Book = 3.75 bales of hay for the flock

(Our critters consume 14 bales of locally grown hay per day from October - May when our pastures are resting. Your support puts hay in the barn and employs both the Mitchell team and the local hay grower.)