1.Knit your own natural, hand-dyed luxurious silk shawls, scarves and wraps as birthday gifts and holiday gifts! Include a recycled paper card letting your special someone know that their gift was hand-knit and hand-dyed using natural dyes made with love from your very own garden or local farmer’s market!
2.Revive your wardrobe. Everyone has something white or pastel that they cannot wear because of some annoying food or beverage stain. Instead of pitching it, bring it back to life! Revitalize it with some homemade natural dye (and have fun doing it!)
3.Knitting shawls, scarves or comfy-cosy wraps as gifts is a great way to show your loved ones how much you care. Use undyed silk, wool, cashmere or silk/wool blend yarn and dye it in a natural dye of your choosing. Your loved ones will love it and the environment will thank you for it!
4.Add some passion to your bedroom curtains and dye them naturally with pomegranate, beet or mangosteen. You can even mix a little indigo in with any one of the above to create some purple passion!
5.Transform a stained white or pastel tablecloth into something beautiful again! Choose a dark-colored natural dye made from indigo, walnut hulls, pomegranate, beet or mangosteen so your next stains won’t be as visible!
6.Gather your old shawls, scarves, sarongs, sheets, dresses, t-shirts, towels and tablecloths and transform them into creative works of art! Using your own handmade natural dyes, you can make prayer flags, holiday flags, wall hangings, tapestries, wall art and more.
7.Get creative in your art space at home and at work. Make natural dyes for use in fabric art, dyeing canvas, batik art and whatever else inspires you. The possibilities are endless!
8.Go Green in the classroom! Take your class on a field trip to the local botanical garden, farmer’s market or nursery and select your plants for natural dyeing. Prepare natural dyes together as a class, bottle them up and use them to make safe, environmentally friendly arts & crafts projects and holiday gifts.
9.Get creative with your kids over summer vacation! Make your own natural dyes as a family and use them to make cool, tie-dye t-shirts that are colorful, safe and environmentally friendly!
10.Design your eco-friendly clothes or accessories line! Buy undyed organic cotton, hemp or bamboo fabric and dye them with your own natural dyes. You can even reuse patches of old fabric and dye it with a complimentary color, creating a textured, patchwork look to your design.
For step-by-step instructions on how to dye natural yarn and textiles with homemade natural dyes visit Aurora Silk:
http://www.aurorasilk.com/
Incredibly Handmade is a one of a kind shopping site with gorgeous hand-woven shawls, scarves, handcrafted beaded and handcrafted sterling silver jewelry, handmade bags, unique embroidered fabric purses and other handmade accessories and ethnic crafts from around the world. Many of these ethnic accessories are handmade by hilltribe people such as the Mien, Karen and Hmong scattered throughout mountainous regions of Asia. Many hours go into the making of these unusual, one of a kind pieces. In buying handmade accessories, our customers preserve the art of traditional, cultural handicrafts while supporting talented artisans all over the world.
From classic and elegant to bohemian-chic, Incredibly Handmade has something unique for everyone. Feel free to visit our online store at http://incrediblyhandmade.com
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