Spring has arrived in San Francisco and our neighborhood is brimming with flowers. As I dive deeper into the rhythm of natural dyeing, I'm connecting to the seasonality of the craft. Over winter, I focused on the evergreen leaves of ice plant, passionflower vine, and dune tansy. Now as poppies (gladly) take over our backyard, I'm especially inspired by the flowers and fruits of the season. My current spring dye favorites include: poppies, passionfruit rind, oxalis, and avocado pits. See photos and learn more below. 

Hammered Poppy Linen Shade. I just love poppies. Their bright color and ability to thrive in poor conditions (e.g. sprouting out of a crack in the sidewalk) brighten my day and give me hope. Here's a little video on how I made the shade. You can purchase it here.

Passionfruit rinds. Throughout winter, I use the passionfruit vines and leaves to produce a vibrant yellow dye. The fruit rinds renders a beautiful light purple. And the secondary dye bath creates a lovely green. I'm amazed by how color shifts across multiple dye baths.

Oxalis, oxalis, oxalis. Oxalis pes-caprae, also known as sourgrass, is a ubiquitous springtime weed in San Francisco where we live. As an invasive species, it outcompetes native plants so while harvesting, I try to remove the whole plant to limit its future growth. You can see the white bulbs in the photo. I'm using it for all sorts of projects these days, including: fabric for an art installation for Ocean Calling (see yellow and orange fabric at the top of this post), the ombre dress and jumpsuit Ruthie and I are wearing, and lamp shades of course. It produces a vibrant yellow, and orange if modified.  

And finally, avocados. Who doesn't love avocados? (My dad for one.) We're lucky enough to live in a place we can eat them year round, but locally they're best in the spring. In addition to enjoying the delicious green fruit, their pits create a beautiful pink hue. I made this lamp shade with avocado pits and used shibori technique with iron to produce the pattern. Soon we'll have solid pink shades available on our site. 

Hope you're loving spring. Reach out with any thoughts or questions. 

Danielle