Monday, June 16, 2008

Ajkem'a Loy'a Workshop: Natural Dyeing


Last year some of the women from Ajkem'a Loy'a were trained in naturally dyeing cotton threads for their weaving. With a stove setup in the outside patio of the students' house, Sandra very patiently walked us through the lengthy process through which we dyed two bunches of thread with "Pericon" (St. Johns Wort.) The result - a very nice tone of mustard yellow. The challenge - this process takes around 7 hours in total which will ultimately increase the price of the products made with natural dyes (now, mainly napkins and scarves.)

Any feedback from our readers on what percentage increase in price would you be willing to pay for naturally dyed threads that are guaranteed not to run?

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