Monday 13 October 2014

Picking flowers in the rain

A table full of colourful dye plants
Suited and booted this morning we met over at London Fields to collect some of the wildflowers which are not only pretty, but also plant gold for any garden dyer (a person who uses plants to naturally dye fabric). After getting permission from the council, who will be scything the wild flowers later in the week - we set out to gather our harvest. We will be using the flowers for various community projects that we are working on and in workshops which teach people about the process of natural dyeing. Despite getting soaked in the process and shouted at by a passer-by who assumed we were plant thieves, my house is now covered in a rainbow of zinnias, coreopsis, african marigolds and cosmos. A great way to brighten up a gloomy Monday morning!

African marigold, coreopsis, cosmos and cinnia (clockwise from top left)