I am so excited about how fun and easy it is to dye using St. John’s wort tincture that I wanted to share it with my Herbal Roots zine newsletter subscribers! This is one of the crafts in the St. John’s Wort ebook of Herbal Roots zine.
Wanna know how to turn this:
into this?:
Well, here’s how I did it!
This is a jar of St. John’s wort tincture I tinctured back in 2008. It is a beautiful deep red color! I wanted to try my hand at dyeing and read that St. John’s wort could be soaked in alcohol before using it in a dye bath and decided to give my tincture a try since it is St. John’s wort soaked in alcohol.
I made a dye bath using St. John’s wort tincture, water and alum. I rubber banded the shirt to create the designs, put it in a jar with the tincture, alum and water, shook it well and let it sit overnight. I used alum since it is easily found in the spice aisle of the grocery store but other mordants (tin, copper) can be used to get different colors.
The next morning, I pulled it out of the jar, unbanded it, rinsed it in cool water until the water ran clear and hung to dry! It’s that simple. The result was very nice!
I also dyed play silks and wool yarn using the same method. I thought that this dye method was so cool and easy I just had to share it with you.
This is the playsilk I dyed. I use it as a headband!
Wanna learn more?
Grab the St. John’s Wort ebook of Herbal Roots zine.