Paint Your Summertime Blues Away With Nature's Rainbow -- Good For The Young At Heart!

When you're a child, summer vacations tend to be the longest stretch of time in the history of the universe. Plowing through the doors of school on that final day may initially launch triumphant euphoria, but that sensation lasts about as long as it takes to run through all of your favorite pastimes -- one week...maybe two, tops. Those endlessly sticky dog days of summer test the patience of even the most happy-go-lucky kiddies, prompting them to abandon the joy of icecream truck sightings, wide-eyed yet rather cruel insect experiments and mindnumbing video game marathon sessions since they become hopelessly infected with there's nothing left to dooooooo! syndrome. In fact, that simple statement -- guaranteed to drive any parent over a cliff when moaned by their mini-me(s) for the 18th time in one week -- is tangling up the airwaves at this very moment in hundreds of languages around the globe. The only way to fight off this sophisticated method of torture is to arm yourself with a project that will keep your bitty kiddies at bay -- one that can morph into several days of stimulating and enjoyable activity.

That is where natural plant dyes come to the rescue, but parents, please take heed -- this project is not for the lazy at heart. If you are willing to commit the time, the payoff will come in the form of blissful silence as your children become fully engaged in the process. Releasing your restless ones out into the field to collect many of the materials required to cook up the colors of the rainbow could feasibly take a few hours to one full day. Any parent in their right mind should do the dance of 1000 giggling gnomes immediately, but wait a second, that's just stage one! Be prepared to enjoy multiple days of celebration because once your children hunt down Mother Nature's resources, then you're going to take them on a field trip to the grocery store for a few more crucial items depending on what color palette you want to achieve. Upon returning home, you can lay all of the supplies out on the table (along with the items that they found out in nature) and explain how specific plants yield distinctive pigments -- be sure to make an entire lesson out of it. They'll be so bored that they'll retreat into their room(s) for a nap.  Bingo, day two of parental sanity restored!

You can declare the following day a color fiesta extravaganza since you will have them (under your supervision) slowly boiling various differerent chopped up plant materials in separate pots (or crock pots) of water using the color guide below. The best rule of thumb is to add 1/4 - 1/2 cup of natural plant material to 4 cups of water in a stainless steel pot or crockpot, allowing it to simmer on low for a minimum of 1-2 hours or overnight for the most intense pigment. Then, strain the mixture and let it cool completely before using. Once you've created your desired palette, let the fun begin! Pour each liquid pigment into separately labeled glass jars with resealable lids (baby food jars work nicely) and store in the refrigerator when not in use.

Your children can create countless natural watercolor scenes on various types of recycled paper but in addition, the same colors can also be used to tint pure wool yarn or fabric (excluding acrylic and cotton since both don't accept natural pigments well) as long as you add a non-toxic mordant such as alum. Available at most pharmacies, the additive ensures that plant-based colors will become permanent -- just add 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of alum to 2 cups of plant dye and 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar only if the mixture curdles.  The dyebath may change slightly in color when you add the cream of tartar, but it is a normal occurance which won't adversely affect the pigmentation properties. Please bear in mind that if you plan to dye fabric, be sure to soak it overnight in your color for best intensity. To get even more bang for your natural dye buck, you can even add the coloring to homemade clay. Between that and the painting and fabric dyeing opportunities, you'll probably be able to keep your children occupied for a minimum of 3 days until they get a renewed interest in shaking down your couch cushions for ice cream money. Enjoy the sweet bliss of cheerful artistic activity while it lasts!

Behold...Your Color Chart

Red: beets, dried hibiscus flowers, madder, cranberries, sumac fruit, rose hips, chokecherries

Reddish-Purple: huckleberry, pokeweed berries, hibiscus flowers (dark red or purple blooms), safflower blooms

Pink-Red: umbilicara, cherries, dandelion roots, strawberries, red raspberries, cardinal flowers, sorrel roots and bark, hemlock bark, grand fir bark

Rose-Tan: birch bark, willow bark, sassafras roots
       
Yellow-Orange: bloodroot

Yellow:  celery leaves, onion skin, sunflowers, paprika, goldenrod, dandelion flowers, marigolds, apple tree bark, turmeric, daffodils, dahlia flowers, ragweed, and bark

Salmon: cherry bark

Orange:  oats, tumeric, butternut seed husks, yellow onion skins, bloodroot, sassafrass leaves, carrot roots, barberry plant

Green: artichokes, grass, oak bark, snapdragon flowers, spinach, lily of the valley leaves, plantain leaves/roots, nettle roots/leaves/stalk, peach leaves, or crab apple leaves and bark

Blue: red cabbage, hyacinth flowers, blueberries, red onion skins, logwood chips

Blue-Violet: cherry roots

Purple: elderberries, black raspberries, grapes, red maple tree (inner bark)

Violet/Purple:  grapes, camellia (pink-magenta)

Reddish Brown: buckeye husks, Canadian hemlock bark

Tan: Colorado fir bark, oak bark

Light Brown: tea bags

Brown/Tan: paprika, greenbriar, or sassafras

Brown: Japanese yew, coffee grounds, acorns, white birch (inner bark), dandelion roots, sumac leaves

Deep Brown: walnut hulls

Grey/Black:  sumac leaves, carob pods, sawthorn oak, iris roots, oak galls