Dyeing With Eucalyptus Bark

As a general rule, I forage for things to create my dyes. I decided to create a dye with Eucalyptus bark as I noticed it was covering the ground of my local arboretum. This is a seasonal dye as Eucalyptus trees shed their bark instead of leaves, every winter.

I soaked the bark in a jar of water for around a week prior to dyeing with it, to soften the bark. This makes it easier to extract the colour from it when making the dye.

I boiled the bark in water for a few hours to extract as much colour from the dye as possible. This process gave off the most amazing scent as the oils were released from the bark!

Original Eucalyptus Bark Dye Results

The bark dye created a beautiful pinky brown on the cotton. To achieve this pattern I dyed the fabric scrunched up inside a net bag.

The wool didn't take the colour very easily. After leaving it on the heat for some time and over night in the dye pot the wool came out as a pale brown with tones of pink.

Eucalyptus Bark + Acid Dye Results

Adding a small amount of acid (vinegar) to a dye brightens/ lightens the colour.

For this dye experiment I used linen. It took the dye well and created a lovely peachy brown colour. There are a few darker coloured patches where the fabric had some contact with the iron powder I was also using as the fabric was drying.

The wool turned out to be quite a peachy brown

Eucalyptus Bark Dye + Iron (ferrous sulphate) Results

By adding a pinch of ferrous sulphate to the original bark dye, it change to a grey colour.

The wool absorbed the grey coloured dye very well. I am unsure if I like this colour as it is quite cool and not as earthy as the other colours.

🌱Kat Webb🌱