Shades of Nature: Fiber and Art

Green living, existing in harmony with nature, is the essence of my business Shades of Nature. Welcome to Shady Grove Farm and studios, where flowers are used to make dyes, mushrooms become sheets of paper, fiber is turned into cloth, and the beauty of the landscape is preserved in distinctive paintings.

My eight alpaca, five angora rabbits and locally grown sheep and llama, provide luxurious fiber in a variety of colours for dyeing and spinning. I combine the natural fleece colours with shades from my dye pots to make unique variegated and semi-solid yarns.

Much of the dyestuff I use grows in my gardens or wild on my property. I shop for the natural dyes such as cochineal and indigo that I cannot produce myself. Plant based dyes are complex mixes of colour, affected by growing, harvesting and storing conditions, as well as extraction techniques. The sometimes unpredictable variations add to the rare beauty of the natural colours. Before dyeing I treat the natural fibers with an alum based mordant solution to make the colours as light and wash fast as possible. The mordant helps bind the dye molecules to the fiber. Protecting natural dyed fabrics from bright sunlight will help preserve them. These organic colours can all be hand washed in lukewarm water.

The flowers used for my herbal dyeing are grown organically. I use earth friendly non-toxic dye methods that are non-polluting. The biodegradeable leftover plant material is further utilized for compost dyeing and solar dyeing before being returned to the garden in a renewable cycle.

Ater I extract the dye most of the plant material heads to the compost pile, which is where some of the most exciting dyeing takes place. I have introduced a new line of compost dyed and solar dyed cotton fabrics. Art quilters can choose from natural solar and compost dyed cotton broadcloth, kona cotton and vintage cotton sheeting. Some plant materials such as onion skins and certain mushrooms and lichens, are processed further and live on as handmade paper used in my artwork! The entire process, from raising fiber animals and dye plants to dyeing and weaving, is tactile and satisfying. It keeps me connected to our planet earth, and to our ancestors who first discovered the amazing secret colours hidden in plants.

Follow my blog which chronicles spinning, plant dyeing, weaving, painting, gardening and other adventures.