The Del Rio Trail Project Part 1
When I finished grad school the first thing I wanted to do was to start natural dyeing again. I had been introduced to the process while an undergraduate in a fibers program but I was focused on others things at the time and didn’t give it too much thought. In my last year of graduate school I saw more and more people using locally foraged and home grown plants to dye with on social media and I became very excited about getting back into the process. I remember feeling almost itchy towards the end of my graduate program because I so desperately wanted to start dyeing again, but I had no time to do anything outside of my thesis work. I felt like a slingshot, as soon as my life was my own again I began to explore dyeing with local plants voraciously.
At the time I had just moved back to my hometown of Sacramento CA and I began to forage for dye plants along the Del Rio trail. I grew up near the trail (actually a long stretch of abandoned railroad tracks) and I was very familiar with the plant life that grew along it. Fast forward 4 years, and ALOT of natural dyeing later, and I came across a call for local artists to make art about the Del Rio trail. I was lucky enough to be one of the artists selected by the Sacramento Arts and Culture Council for the project, and it felt very full circle considering that the trail is where I started my natural dye journey.
Gathering dyeing materials along the trail back in 2018 when I first returned home to Sacramento.
For the project I’m making a quilt using fabric that has been dyed with different plants all collected from along the trail. I recently finished dyeing all the fabric, and I’m now moving on to piecing the quilt top. There were so many wonderful dye plants to choose from, but I ended up deciding on oxalis (also known as sourgrass), redwood cones, Rosemary, two different species of eucalyptus, oak galls, plum branches, and green persimmons. I’m thrilled with the rainbow of local color from these plants, and I’m excited to share more as the project progresses.
Thank you for your posts! I am currently harvesting Hopi dye sunflowers that I got at a seed swap at Picuris Pueblo and your post on them was helpful. I am wondering where you source the velvet? It looks beautiful. What kind of material is it?
Do you use the oak galls for the tannin bath? I have been wanting to do this with foraged oak galls but have been intimidated to figure out the right ratios! Thank you for sharing these are beautiful!
Is this silk velvet? It’s absolutely stunning. Just stumbled across your blog when researching loquat dye. We don’t have many trees here in the UK but I have one and I’m keen to experiment. Thank you for your generous sharing of knowledge, what a beautiful project.
I saw the Del Rio call and thought it was such a wonderful project - I'm so thrilled you were selected! Can't wait to see it completed!