Edible Vancouver Island May/June 2024

EDIBLE FEATURE

pigments OF NATURE

Local artists use natural dyes to bring beauty and colour to textiles

community is reviving the lost traditions and passionately sharing knowledge about ingredients, recipes and techniques to all those who will listen. FORAGED, FAMILIAR AND REPURPOSED Natural dyes come from a lot of surprising sources. Yes, turmeric, blackberries and beets initially come to mind, but the natural dye recipe book is expansive. Janna Maria Vallee, Sunshine Coast textile artist and owner of Everlea Yarn, is one local artist who has dedi cated her career to exploring the world of natural dyes. She dyes a line of merino wool yarns with colours sourced from both familiar and unexpected places. She uses the sawdust from her workshop, like Osage, for a true yellow and purple heart for olive hues. Or she'll collect foraged finds from around her Sunshine Coast home. Vallee will even pull from farther afield, like indigo and cochineal, to expand the colour spectrum of her offerings.

Model is Chauntelle Atcheynum, Photo by Christine Wieting of SeaDog Designs

b oth the palette and process of natural dyes have a way of draw ing people in; the rusty reds, marine blues and sunny peaches have an indescribable magic you just can't find in synthetics. For millennia, dyeing was an entirely natural process, with leaves, bark and wood, roots, flowers, fruits and even insects creating a rainbow of fibre colourings. But these days, most of the textile in dustry revolves around synthetics, following the development of the first synthetic dye in 1857. More predictable and scalable, synthetics swallowed up the traditional dye markets–and subsequently the know-how. Yet among today's artists, historians and creatives, these traditional techniques are making a quiet comeback. This small but growing WORDS JESSICA MCKEIL

Photo by JFelicia Lo

There is a lot of tinkering between the ingredients, fabrics and techniques, and there are often many rounds of experimentation.

8 MAY/JUN 2024 EDIBLE VANCOUVER ISLAND