Dye Project: Blackberry Canes & Leaves

I harvested a renegade California Blackberry (a.k.a., Pacific Blackberry) from a front planter in the new landscape, and decided to try using it for a dye source. According to information on the internet, the cane and leaves yield a yellow dye. 

I cut the cane and leaves into a plastic bucket, and covered them with water to soak overnight. This rinses away dust and small insects. The plant material weighed 680 grams, or 24 ounces.

Blackberry cane and leaves (Rubus ursinus)

For this project, I used two cotton dish towels that had been prepared as described in Preparing your Fabric (Scour, Mordant, Brighten). The towels had been scoured, mordanted with oak gallnut extract, and brightened with alum and soda ash. The weight of fabric (WOF) was 154 grams, or 5.4 ounces. The WOF% was 442% for the 680 grams of canes and leaves.

Extract the Dye

First, extract the dye from the plant material. I allowed several days for this process, but you can speed up the process for each step if you prefer.

After soaking the plant material in clean water, strain off the dirty water using a sieve and place the clean cane and leaves in the dye pot. Pour boiling water over the plant material to cover, and let the mixture steep overnight (or for at least 8 hours). It smells like an herbal tea.

Steep the cane and leaves in boiling water overnight

Bring the mixture to about 180 degrees and let simmer for an hour. Try to maintain the simmer, without exceeding 180 degrees. Inexplicably, setting my electric burner to 195 degrees seems to maintain the temperature perfectly, just under 180 degrees.

Simmer for about an hour

After an hour, let the liquid cool slightly and then strain it through a sieve into a bucket or dye pot. Discard the plant material. The dye bath is a brownish green. 

Strain the plant material from the dye liquid

Dye the Fabric

Next, dye your prepared fabric in the extracted dye. In a bucket, soak the prepared fabric in water for 30 minutes; this makes it easier for the fabric to absorb the dye. In the dye pot, add four teaspoons of alum to the dye bath and bring the temperature back up to a simmer.

Simmer the prepared fabric in the dye bath

When the dye is simmering, squeeze excess water from the fabric and add it to the dye bath. Let the dye bath simmer at around 180 degrees for an hour. Stir the fabric periodically to distribute the dye evenly. Optionally you can test the pH of the dye bath (mine had a pH of 2, which is quite acidic). Remove the dye pot from the heat, and leave the towels in the bath to steep overnight (or for a few hours if you prefer). 

Squeeze out the fabric

Rinse the fabric until the water runs clear

Squeeze out excess dye, rinse the fabric, and then run it through the washing machine without detergent and hang to dry. 

Hang to dry

Wait two weeks to let the dye set, and then wash the fabric with a mild textile soap (like Synthropol or Professional Textile Detergent) and hang it to to dry. The resulting color is a clear yellow.

Blackberry canes and leaves produce a clear yellow

Learn More:

• Plant Dyeing with Blackberry Canes & Leaves - this article was inspiration for my project.
• Plant Dyeing with Blackberries - I book marked this article, but haven't tried it yet.