weekly bundle: compost and earth dyeing

Compost and earth dyeing is an inexpensive and novel idea to utilize kitchen scraps and waste materials from our compost bin for natural dyeing. Some common items that will give color are: coffee grounds, tea leaves, carrot tops or skins, avocado pits and skins. beets, pomegranates, and red cabbage.

I read an article about compost dyeing by Kimberly Baxter Packwood, an aspiring textile artist. I am intrigued and thought this would be fun to experiment this technique of dyeing using organic waste. The method is basically laying items from your compost bin on fabric, bundle it up and bury it in the compost heap for a period of time to let nature takes its course of fertilization and fermentation.

I did two pieces, one silk and cotton and left it outside in the cold and plan to open the bundle in a month. I’ve marked my calendar! This will be quite a test of my patience, the anticipation is too much, hopefully the holidays will keep me distracted.

compost bin–yummy for gardening afficionado?

laying scraps on fabric, roll and bundle

bundles ready to go

bundles in compost heap

leftovers on top and covered bundles with compost

Have you tried natural dyeing using waste material from your compost bin? Did you get good result? I love to hear and learn from your experience.

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