Gretchen, you've done it.

You've just astounded me with all these colors.

I mean, how or where do you start with all of this?

>>Yeah, it can seem overwhelming.

I think one of the first things that people are surprised to find out is that they had such vibrant colors.

You know- >>Yes.

>>Hundreds of years ago.

But they might be more surprised to find out it's been thousands of years that people have been putting color on textiles.

>>That's cool.

>>So if you wanna try it yourself, probably the things you should consider are the fiber that you're gonna use- >>Mm-hmm.

>>The dye that you're gonna use, and the mordant that you're gonna use.

>>Yes.

So I'm gonna start with the fiber because we are- >>Sure.

>>In the world of polyester and rayon, and everything else >>We are.

>>And those are not dyeable- >>Not very readily available at the time period, yes.

>>No, they were not.

>>So we have a few up here, and you're either gonna choose a protein fiber, which means animal fiber, or cellulose fiber, which means a plant fiber.

And so wool and linen are probably the top two.

>>Yes.

>>And so, yep, you've got some flax there.

And the thing that we would be dyeing is that inner fiber.

It's a bass fiber, so that little hair-like fiber that lives on the inside- >>Yep.

>>Is what gets spun and turned into linen.

>>Yeah.

>>And so linen does not accept dye as well as a protein fiber.

Really just cellulose fibers in general, you have to try a little harder, but it doesn't mean you can't get beautiful color on them.

And so another example of that would be the cotton.

>>Ah.

>>And so- >>So few people have seen a true cotton plant.

>>Yes.

>>Be careful- >>This is cotton- >>Yeah.

>>But you do have to be careful.

They can be a little bit sharp, those little tines that hold it together.

But the cotton is a little bit like linen as far as it doesn't really accept dye as easily as maybe silk or wool would.

>>Right.

>>But if you're an English colonial, you're used to these, you're used to silk, you're used to cotton, you're used to wool and linen.

But probably mostly wool and linen.

>>And here is some wool just to make a point.

>>We do, yep.

Just some little locks from a little lamb.

And those would be carted and then spun, and then turned into a great dye.

>>Sounds great.

So what would be our next step?

>>So our next step is gonna be mordant.

And that's actually a really important step.

And so mordant is like a fixative that's going to help better the vibrant colors come out, but also make it long lasting, or color fast, color permanent- >>And to bind.

>>Which is what you want.

Yeah, exactly so.

And you can actually mordant in any stage of the game.

So you technically could do it ahead of time, which is what we usually do during the process or after the process.

But it helps a lot to do it at the beginning of the process, I think.

>>Kind of set the stage for it.

>>Yeah.

>>Yeah.

>>And so luckily there's certain dyes that might already have the mordant in them.

And so oak gall would be one of those.

Black walnuts would be another.

So they have the dye in them, and they also have the mordant in them.

But you might need a salt metal.

And so we actually typically use alum when we're doing dyeing on the farm.

>>Yes.

>>Because alum is something that you can get pretty easily.

>>Yeah.

>>You can go to the spice island of your grocery store- >>(chuckles) Yes, exactly.

>>And pick up alum.

If you're using it for pickling or if you're using it for setting a dye.

>>Mm-hmm.

>>But there's other ones too.

There's tannic acid, which is like the modern equivalent of tannins that you find naturally in nuts and things like that.

Acorns.

>>Mm-hmm.

Well, that's exciting.

So I sit here and I see, you know, we've got things all over.

But we've got different colors.

And of the same dye batch, you were saying.

>>We do.

So madder is a really fun dye because it's an ancient dye.

It's a pretty old dye.

It's been around a really long time.

And it is the root part of the madder plant that creates those colors.

And if you look at the colors that we have here- >>Those are beautiful.

>>They were all dyed with madder, but they look... You see all these different shades.

>>Yes.

>>And so the lighter one is linen.

>>Uh-huh.

>>This one is peach.

This peachy kind of color is cotton.

This is silk, and that's wool.

And those were all dyed with madder.

And the same mordant, they all used alum, but because they're cellulose and protein fibers, they just took it differently.

>>That's fascinating.

Well, what about the indigo?

We talked a lot about, working on... And I know even in class we're taught that indigo is basically so rare and difficult.

So it was something royalty or people of means wore, so- >>Yeah, by the 18th century, it's kind of an everybody color.

So you might see enslaved people... You might see poor folks.

The middling sort, wealthy people.

Indigo is kind of your go-to color.

So really indigo is kind of widespread.

And the really neat thing about indigo, or at least the thing I think is neat about indigo is that there's versions of it all over the world.

So it's in the Americas, it's in Asia, it's in Africa, it's in, well, in Europe, in a different form, in the woad form.

But everybody would have kind of an access to a blue.

>>Interesting.

And again, you've got different fabrics.

So the mordant and the dye took to each of the- >>Take a little bit differently.

>>Cellulose, yes.

>>Exactly right.

>>I'm a yellow girl, so tell me about the yellow.

>>Yeah, the yellow is great.

I like yellow as well.

And the yellow that we use often, although there's lots of different yellows that you can use.

But we use the Osage orange tree, and that is gonna be the heartwood or the pulp of the tree that's going to give you those great yellow colors.

So you would take with...

If it was the madder or the Osage orange, you'd kind of render them down, steep them, kind of leach the dye out, strain that out, and then you'd have a nice clear dye pot.

>>Interesting.

Well, you know, we've talked a lot about clothes.

But we also had it in making our, I'll say, every day household items- >>Yeah.

>>Prettier too.

>>Absolutely.

>>So let's finish up with the basket.

>>Sure.

So this basket was woven by a friend of mine and dyed with black walnut.

And as we talked about, the black walnut has both the mordant in it and the dye as well.

And so indigenous people are using things...

In this country, using things like the Osage orange and the black walnut to dye things prior to any kind of European contact.

>>Interesting.

I have my own personal story of black walnut.

I made a basket.

I was told to go home, and I mean, boil the black walnut and to dip the basket into it.

And I didn't even think about gloves.

And I had black walnut-dyed arms- >>Months and months.

>>For months.

>>Yeah, yes you did.

>>And months.

>>Yeah.

>>Kinda matched my basket very nicely.

>>It did.

>>So, wear gloves.

>>Wear gloves, yeah.

I don't often wear gloves, so I'll have blue or brown hands for a really long time too.

But yes, there's nothing stopping you from wearing gloves.

>>Nothing.

>>Well, Gretchen, thank you so much.

We appreciate you coming here and showing us that plants can be beautiful both, I'll say, inside and out.

>>You're welcome.

>>Yes.