Name: Sharne

Message: I am doing a piece of coursework for my A level applied science class, and would like to know all the different materials you can use when using natural dyes. For example, different clothing materials and foods and any other things you may use with natural dye. And, can there be any hazards within using natural dyes, and what substances may irritate the skin or cause allergies?

This is a pretty ambitious set of questions. To answer them all in detail, I'd have to spend all day, working without pay!

I would recommend that to start, you read my page, About Natural Dyes, in addition to the following pages on my site:

Follow that by buying an excellent guide to natural dyes, J.N. Liles' book, The Art and Craft of Natural Dyeing. You can buy this, used, from Amazon.co.uk. It is not as beautifully illustrated as some books on natural dyeing, but it contains much more information, and more reliable information, than more popular books on natural dyes. You will get far more information from this book than is available anywhere for you to read online.

You may also learn by reading web sites from good companies devoted to selling natural dyes: Aurora Silk and Earthues. You will notice that natural dyes are far more expensive than synthetic dyes, especially considering that you often have to use more than twenty times as much of a natural dyestuff to dye the same amount of fiber.

Please be sure to give proper credit, with detailed footnotes, for where you find all of the information you use in writing any reports.

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