I grew a bunch of dye plants in 2021 — weld, madder, indigo, and dyer’s chamomile. These plants produce yellow, red, and blue vegetable dyes. Pictured above is the indigo pigment extracted from the indigo plant.
I harvested all of the indigo at the end of the growing season and put it into a plastic tub. I filled the tub with water, weighted the plant material down with a rock, and let it sit for a couple of weeks to ferment.
I then strained out all of the plant material, leaving behind the water and pigment. I carefully poured off most of the water and poured the pigment-rich liquid into a bucket.
I bottled this into mason jars, and after they sat for a few weeks, the pigment separated naturally from the remaining water. This pigment will stain any natural cloth that’s soaked in it.
I waited two more years and harvested the madder in 2023. The red dye from madder comes from the roots, which can be cleaned, dried, and stored for later use.
Not pictured is the dyer’s chamomile — I harvested all of the flowers, which have a strong yellow pigment — and the weld, which is a biennial and is also harvested for its yellow flowers in the second year of growth.