Natural Dyes and update on my kombucha

By Cho Kwan Leung (Rachel) 10 / Feb / 2021
Cho Kwan Leung (Rachel)'s picture

In class, I tried the first-ever natural dyeing in my life (thanks Emma!) and before that, I didn't even know what the purpose of collecting those invasive plants was during the hike. I know some natural dyes in food, like Indian turmeric rice and Butterfly pea flower tea. But I never imagined people out there are trying to do natural dyeing with ingredients that are out of my expectation, for example, chestnuts, onion skins, and brazilwood.

Lately, I started to realise textile dyes have been one of the biggest impacts on Ocean pollution during my plastic waste research. Fashion Revolution, an organization found by a bunch of people who work in the fashion industry, aims at “conserves and restores the environment and values people over growth and profit”. One of their articles “The true cost of color: The impact of textile dyes on water systems” pointed out that 200 tonnes of water are used for textile dyeing in which 95% of hidden water is polluted ink-like water goes back to the Ocean. A lot of marine animals are threatened, therefore, natural dyes have been recommended as alternatives.

I also found some organizations that promote the concept of how natural and encouraging it is by selling natural dye kits. Maiwa, a School of Textile in Vancouver, wishes to embody the concept of the relationship between mankind, creativity, and Nature through natural dyes.  I personally like their idea of selling these natural dye kits so as to let more people get to know it, though it is a bit pricey, I would definitely love to try it out!

Here’s the result from Emma’s natural dyeing workshop, still waiting for it to dry since I just took it out. To be honest, I expected it will become violet color instead of brown, it might because I added eucalyptus. 

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And my kombucha this week.