Organizing Your Natural Dyes

I recently started dyeing yarn with natural dyes. I buy my dyes from Botanical Colors. They have an amazing selection of colors. 

Most of them are packed in plastic and some are plastic in plastic. When handling any powdered substances, you should be aware that the powder can become air born. Air born particles are is even more likely to occur when you are opening up a plastic bag. No matter how gingerly you open it, it can cause a puff of powder in the air.

To avoid this happening every time I opened the bag, I bought a bunch of small glass jars to store all my dyes. Botanical Colors has great images and information on all the dyes. 

Often when I am dyeing I am gloved up, masked up, and away from my technology. To make it super easy, I printed out the information from the Botanical Colors site, laminated it, and identified each jar with the dye information.

Things to consider when handling powdered dyes (natural or synthetic)

• Best to be in an area that has good ventilation

• Never handle dyes around food or areas that you will be handling food

• Wear a mask (that was even before covid, so you should have plenty of them)

• Wear gloves

• Clean the space thoroughly once you are done

• Have fun!