Plant the
rainbow
Learn to pigment textiles
with plants from your garden
BY NIKKI DAVIDSON
F
illed with mismatched jars and con-
tainers, plant clippings and even two
lounging resident felines, the work-
shop of Astoria artist Iris Sullivan Daire
looks like the lab of a mad scientist.
She slips on oversized rubber, pig-
ment-stained gloves and plunges her
hands into a large mystery vat of liquid.
The scrap fabric she pulls out of the pot
shape-shifts from yellow-green to blue in
front of her eyes.
“It’s magic,” she said.
The mystifying eff ect isn’t new, it’s
been around for about 4,000 years. It’s
the oxidation process that happens when
fi bers are removed from an indigo dying
vat, the same plant people used to tint
clothes in ancient India, East Asia and
Egypt.
Living in a world where most tex-
tiles are now dyed with synthetics, Sulli-
van Daire has become a master of using
her natural elements to create color. She’s
passionate about sharing the techniques
with others and will be off ering classes
at the Sou’Wester Arts & Ecology Center
in Seaview, Washington, from Tuesday to
Oct. 16.
Many of the supplies for the classes
will come from her own garden, where
she grows 15 diff erent plants to create
pigments. What she can’t get from her
own land, she forages for during her daily
walks. Her local favorites are fi reweed,
red alder and sitka spruce.
“Red alder is the one that is dominant
ABOVE: Iris Sullivan Daire will often forage for
natural materials to create dye. Her favorite local
plants are fi reweed, red alder and sitka spruce.
LEFT: A palette of colors in Sullivan Daire’s
studio made from natural dyes.
Photos by Nikki Davidson
Natural dying classes at
Sou’Wester Arts & Ecology
Center Center
1306 39th Place, Seaview, Washington
Saturday workshops: Sept. 25, Oct. 2, 9 and
16 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Youth after-school programs: Tuesday to
Sept. 23, Oct. 5 to Oct. 7, Oct. 12 to Oct.
14. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays
from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
souwester-arts-ecology-center.square.site/
See Page 9
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