June 13, 2014

Oregon Grape Plant: Yellow and Purple Dyes


The Native Northwest people used the Oregon Grape plant to create bright yellow dyes and a variety of medicines. The yellow dye is created from the plant’s inner bark and roots. It creates yellow flowers in the spring and purple berries in the summer. The berries produce a purple dye (although it’s not known for its stability). 

This spring, I drew an Oregon Grape plant. (These plants grow all over the place in the Puget Sound area.) 


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful drawing! And I had no clue about the dye. Never would have associated a grape plant with yellow dye!

Saralyn said...

Great blog! Found you on the Etsy Leaders of Blogs team! Happy to be your newest follower!

Saralyn

http://friedpicklesblog.blogspot.com/

Post a Comment

Thank you for your comment!