Mindfully Foraged: Naturally Dyed Textiles for Wellness. Rosy Heywood

MIND FULLY F ORAGED

ROSY HEYWOOD MA DESIGN

Mindfully Foraged

Rosy Heywood

MA Design: University of the West of England

Submitted: 18th May 2021

Website: rosyheywooddesign.co.uk

Email: hello@rosyheywooddesign.co.uk

Instagram: rosyheywooddesign

Please note: this is a preview version of my final MA Design project book with selected pages for each chapter. If you would like to view my full research and development book please contact me at hello@rosyheywooddesign.co.uk.

Contents 1 Statement of Intent 2 Journey and Contextualising My Brief 4 Previous Work MAKING COLOUR 8 Historical, Social and Political Context 16 Logwood Dye 20 The Textiles Industry 22 Sustainability and Innovation 30 Initial Natural Dyeing Tests 34 Case Study: Olderbrother 36 Natural Dyeing Process and Methodology 40 Mordants, Binders and Modifiers 44 Foraging for Dyestuff 46 Growing Dyestuff 50 Creating a Natural Binder 56 Natural Binder Wash Fastness Test APPLYING COLOUR 60 Screen Printing 62 Printing with Titanium Oxalate 64 Natural Bleaching

70 Case Study: Sies Marjan 72 Bundle Dyeing 76 Bundle Dyeing - PH Modifiers 78 Digital Textile Printing MINDFUL DESIGN 82 Demographic Study in the Context of Mental Health 86 Mindfulness Practice 90 Case Study: Sustain 92 Medicinal Dye plants 98 Case Study: Sasha Duerr 100 WGSN Report 102 Meditation Spaces NATURAL DYES DEVELOPMENT 106 Herbal Tea Dyes 110 Locally Foraged Dyes 112 Avocado and Onion Skins 114 Lavender and Sage 116 Hibiscus and Eucalyptus 118 Final Bundle Dye Prints 122 Foraged and Medicinal Plant Colour Palette 124 Foraged and Medicinal Inks 126 PH Modifier Printing 136 Made to Fade 142 Natural Dye Resist Printing 150 Dye Extracts

DIGITAL PRINT DESIGN DEVELOPMENT 158 Digital Print Designs 176 Final Digital Print Designs FINAL SAMPLES 180 Collection Photos 204 Sample ID 208 Evaluation APPENDIX 216 Dye Samples Book 228 Dye Recipes 252 Print Recipes 260 Image References 264 Bibliography

Statement of Intent

Mindfully Foraged: A collection of plant dyed and sustainably printed textiles for wellness orientated interiors.

The textiles industry is one of the biggest polluters on the planet. As a textile designer, I have a responsibility to ensure each stage of my design process is sustainably conscious and has little impact on the environment. The use of synthetic dyes is a contributing factor why the industry has huge environmental issues. In particular, the production and dyeing of cotton is commonly an unsustainable and harmful process. This project will focus on producing sustainable textile dyes using plants and vegetable waste and using eco-friendly methods to apply them to fabrics. My focus will be on dyeing cellulose fibres such as organic cotton, bamboo and linen. I will conduct research into printing techniques and dye sources to find sustainable methods to produce the collection. I will also produce digitally printed textile designs inspired by my natural dyes work. My designs will be targetted at home workers looking to add a touch of calm to their home environment.

1

Making Colour

Logwood Dye

As my research took me to discovering the significance of logwood dyeing I decided to try the historical dyestuff myself. I bought logwood chips online and soaked them in a pan of water for 2 days. I made a 40% and a 20% WOF dye so I could find out what colours can be created based on strength of dye. After two days the logwood chips turned from their natural orange-brown colour to a deep, dark purple and the water was vivid purple so I could tell this was going to be a potent dye. I used cotton and bamboo fibres mordanted with either alum, iron, titanium oxalate or soya milk and nettle as a binder. Logwood is PH sensitive so I experimented with adding lemon juice and soda ash to the 40% WOF exhaust dye bath. Unfortunately the dye bath was too exhausted and when the swatches dried they didn’t keep the golden yellow tones that I saw in the dyepot but faded to a light brown shade. The 20% swatches left in the dye bath overnight also lost richness of colour. I concluded that for best results the dyestuff needs to be at least 40% WOF and for lighter tones, fabrics should be left in the dye bath for a short period of time.

4

MAKING COLOUR

5 2 mins 20% 40% 10 mins 20% 40% 30 mins 20% 40% Overnight 20% 40% Bamboo Silk Alum Cotton Alum Cotton Iron Cotton Canvas Iron Cotton Soya +nettle Cotton Titanium Oxalate Cotton Canvas Titanium Oxalate

6 MAKING COLOUR

Scour fibres

Mordant Heat dyestuff

Strain out dyestuff

Add fibres

Rinse

Use soda ash or PH neutral soap

Slowly simmer Do not boil

Pre-soak fibres and frequently stir dye bath

Examples:

Alum

Iron

Tannin

Soya milk (as binder)

Copper

Tin

Titanium Oxalate

Rhubarb leaves

Use a sieve or muslin cloth

Thoroughly in warm PH neutral water

7

Foraging For Dyestuff

With sustainability in mind, I ventured out in my local area to forage for plants. I kept a record of location, plant species and amount/weight of plant collected. Through these foraging trips I gained a greater understanding of the environments different plants thrive under, the seasons and which plants are available near me. I also grew an understanding of the dangers some plants pose and to be extra careful when collecting plants and researching the species before picking and using as a dyestuff. Some plants contain toxins and poisons so vigilance in identification is key. At this stage of the project I began to reflect how foraging is in opposition to mindfulness.

Foraging is an act of actively looking for something rather mindfulness in contrast, is inactive and not reaching for anything in particular - it is simply being mindful of the present moment. I considered the heightened awareness of mental health in the UK and the booming wellness industry. Foraging for mindfulness has organically grown through the desire for better mental wellbeing. My project evolved to provide a commentary on this through natural colours as a symbol of foraging and the process of slow and thoughtful textile processes to symbolise mindfulness.

8

MAKING COLOUR

9

Applying Colour

Printing With Titanium Oxalate

Before deciding not to use metal salt mordants at all, I experimented with using titanium oxalate as a printing paste. I read that it is used in eco-printing to create bright yellow/orange tones and it particuarly has a strong reaction with tannins (wildcolours). I created the printing paste using titanium oxalate powder, gum tragacanth and water and applied the paste using a brush onto pre-mordanted (alum and iron) fabrics. I then dipped or submerged the fabrics into an oak gall dye bath. The fabrics mordanted with iron produced a deep dark grey colour and those treated with alum created a beige colour. Both mordanted fabrics turned bright orange where the paste was present. This clearly is a very strong method of printng onto naturaly dyed cloth however as it uses metal salts, I decided not to take this technique further. But it did inspire me to research similar but plant based methods to print fabric.

12

APPLYING COLOUR

13

Mindful Design

Medicinal Dye Plants

Following the discovery of Ayurvedic dyes I decided to explore this further. According to The Ayurvedic Institute’s website “it is considered by many scholars to be the oldest healing science. In Sanskrit, Ayurveda means “The Science of Life.” Ayurvedic knowledge originated in India more than 5,000 years ago and is often called the “Mother of All Healing.” (The Ayurveda Institute, 2021). Another fashion brand that use healing dyes is Monsoon Blooms and on their website they state “Our cotton is coloured according to the wisdom of Ayurveda at a small dye-house in the southern forests of Kerala. Using 100% natural plant dyes rich in medicinal properties, the fabrics are known locally as ‘healing cloths’ used more for health than for fashion.” (Monsoon Blooms, 2021). They also state the plants used by the dyers and what the cultural significance and healing properties are. These plants include neem, holy basil, tumeric and aloe vera. I decided to research medicinal plants further and find out how exactly we can benefit from the medicinal properties of plants through using them as a dye for clothing and textiles.

18

MINDFUL DESIGN