september 2022 herbal meditation: 🌼 turmeric dyed cloth 🌼
turmeric dyed cloth
ingredients: turmeric, vinegar, 100% cotton cloth.
how to work with it:
🌼 your new altar cloth
🌼 wrap a gift for a loved one (use some twine and dried lavender for extra ✨
🌼 store your jade roller, jewelry, or other precious items with it
🌼 wear it as a bandana, neck or head scarf, or maybe even a bandana top?!
care instructions: the most important thing to know is that this fabric ***will fade if washed*** so you ideally should use it for something that you won’t wash a lot. hand wash it separately with mild soap and dry it in the shade (color fades in the sun).
gift inspired by: uncertainty, transitions, and melancholic birthdays.
September’s herbal gift is a (naturally dyed) turmeric cloth! Peep the care instructions and ideas for how to use it ☝️above☝️.
My millennial ass made a REEL sharing the process of dyeing these babies in my home kitchen.
The past few weeks have been a natural dye extravaganza. Other experiments include dyeing with elderberry and making indigo balls + dyeing cloth with adé. Mistakes were made, but they literally were all important lessons for next time. Mistakes make us better (crafts)people. (Trying to repeat that in the mirror 18 million times a day as a chronically scared-to-mess-up hoe.) Also I got some rly cute blue adidas socks out of it.
There’s something really special about coloring cloth. I like my hands getting stained. I like being surrounded by plant-dyed fabric as it dries. I like the way the wet fabric looks in the dye bath. It slows me down while catching my attention at the same time. Also dyeing with friends is FUN <3
Many natural dyes fade with time, but turmeric especially because it only stains the fabric, as oppose to truly dyeing it. Isn’t that funny? Turmeric comes on so heavy with allll the bravado, staining anything it touches— but it doesn’t stick in any long-lasting way. The science-y explanation is that the color doesn’t actually chemically bind to the cloth fibers. At least this is as much as I understand. Please fact check me if nerding out about this is your jam. I’m just sharing what some blogger auntie said!
Okay but we’re in a changing season (summer ➡️ fall) so the metaphors abound here. Transitionsssss. I’m so annoyed by this word I don’t even wanna type it but that’s just a reflection of my own resistance and disorganization when things change. If you’re highly sensitive, that might be a part of your moodiness or [insert identity crisis] rn too. Let’s try to lean into the mutable and cardinal girls (Virgo & Libra) that rule this month (😒 I guess — says the begrudging Leo with much eye rolling).
One thing this time of year is teaching me is that change is coming whether I’m game for it or not. So might as well be game and find the pockets of humor, peace, and curiosity where I can. That’s my curmudgeon antidote advice. Now I’m gonna go swaddle my head in this turmeric cloth and try to take it <3
xo sumi
P.S. - If you want to re-dye your turmeric cloth after it fades, here’s some instructions to play with.