Making Dye from Lichen

Half fill a glass jar with the lichen. Add a mixture of one part ammonia to two parts water. Oxygen is required for the chemical reaction to take place, so the advice is to fill the jar three-quarters full with the solution and to remove the lid to replenish the oxygen every so often. Keep the jar in a warm place and shake vigorously each day. The dye should be left to ferment for at least three months to achieve an intense dye colour.

Pour half of the lichen dye liquid through a strainer into a saucepan. Return the strained lichens to the jar and top up with a new ammonia/water mix – you should get another couple of batches before you lichen is ‘spent’.

Add water to your dye pot and submerge the material you are dyeing (having prepared it by soaking in water first). Bring to the boil and simmer gently for about an hour or until you achieve the colour you want. Remove your dyed product and leave to dry. A new wet item can be added to the pot once the dye has cooled and the process repeated.

Each subsequent dye will be lighter as the dye pot becomes exhausted resulting in a colour variation. Our photos show this in the three darkest skeins. The lighter ones were achieved by popping the wool skeins in the bath for a minute or two before removing them. The dye we used for all the skeins, and the unspun fleece came from the Ochrolechia Tartarea lichen. The Evernia Prunastri is still steeping, and we will share our results from that in a future post.

Lichen dye does not need a mordant. The colour will fix and should not fade. Some lichen dyes are photo-sensitive so the dyed item will change colour when exposed to intense sunlight. I hope to experiment with one of these lichens soon.

For more traditional nature craft inspiration check out our How to Make Oak Gall Ink and our How to Make Pine Resin Salve Posts.