Natural Dye: Oaxaca, Mexico

Have you ever looked at a pile of onion skins or a bunch of wilted spinach and thought, “Hey, I could dye a shirt with this”? No? Just me? Well, welcome to a quick guide on the world of natural dyeing, where your compost pile becomes part of your art supplies.

I first fell in love with natural dyeing after a quick natural dye workshop I took back in 2019 at The Ecology Center in San Juan Capistrano, CA. After that awakening, I researched more on how natural dye could be scalable to become an industry standard. (Still working on it.) That being said, I took a trip to Oaxaca, Mexico. Oaxaca is known for its art, textiles, food, and mezcal. There, I had the chance to learn from local artisans who’ve been practicing this craft for generations. One of the most fascinating things I discovered was how they use a cactus parasite known as cochineal. This parasite feeds off the prickly pear cactus and is used to create the color red.

Here’s a simple 5 step way to start exploring natural dyeing at home:

1. Gather Your Dye Stuff Think red onion skins, avocado pits, turmeric, black beans, even old tea bags. Different things give different hues avocados give dusty pinks, onion skins give warm oranges, and turmeric? Bright, sunshiny yellow.

2. Prep Your Fabric Stick to natural fibers like cotton, wool, linen, or silk. Synthetic fibers like polyester or nylon won't take up natural dyes. Before dyeing, soak your fabric in a mordant* (like alum or tannin) to help the color stick. It's like a primer for paint, but for your t-shirt.

This blog bellow gives a great explination on Mordants.

https://www.kaliko.co/blogs/articles/list-of-natural-mordants?srsltid=AfmBOoqpYwAiI35mDia5UNF1CzLPxLWamPati_eUOx-KxUQRasU0OhHy

3. Make Your Dye Bath Boil your dye stuff in water, simmer for about an hour, then take food scraps out. Now you’ve got your color bath ready to go!

4. Time to Dye Soak your fabric in the dye bath—anywhere from 30 minutes to overnight, depending on how deep you want the color. The longer it chills in the bath, the richer the tone.

5. Rinse & Dry Rinse your fabric in cool water until it runs clear, then let it air dry. You’ve just repourposed fabric and gave it a new cool twist straight from nature.<3

Natural dyeing is low-waste, meditative, and honestly pretty addictive. Its super cool to see what color certain scraps will give you. So, whether you're channeling your inner artist or just giving old clothes a new vibe, it’s a beautiful way to connect with the earth.