The healing properties of botanical colour
My love of textiles started at an early age, my mum is a keen craftswoman and made all of our clothes, growing up. She kept big boxes of neatly folded fabric under the stairs and I loved rummaging though them, admiring the colours and textures.
At age eighteen I got a job in a fabric shop when is where I learnt a bit more about the textiles I was naturally drawn towards and discovered the difference between a luminous silk dupion and it’s polyester inferior. Since this discovery I have always chosen natural fibres over synthetic almost intuitively without even knowing the huge damage to the environment synthetic textiles produce.
Clothes of course serve a very practical purpose but they can also allow us to ‘feel’ a certain way. Whether it’s through texture, colour or memory association. They can be tactile, beautiful objects to be treasured and adored or simply a fad to be thrown out after a couple of months of wear.
My personal favourite item of clothing is a fluffy angora jumper (knitted by my mum) It ticks all the boxes for me it’s lightweight, warm, incredibly soft and the most pleasing-to-the-eye shade of grey.
Plant dyes offer this same emotive quality, which synthetic fibres/dyes cannot. Simply looking at a piece of plant dyed cloth is pleasing to the eye and uplifts the spirits. They connects us to nature and the land in which the dye was sourced. I receive a great deal of emotional comfort and protection from my silk scarves. Silk itself is quite literally protective. Genghis Khan was said to issue all of his horseman with silk vests which were worn under their armour. This is because an arrow hitting silk does not break the silk and allows the arrow to be removed more easily.
Through my previous work as a holistic skin care therapist I know how important it is that we consider carefully what we choose to place upon our skin…After all it’s our biggest organ and you may not realise it but the skin absorbs whatever substances we put on it. It’s fascinating to learn how many traditional medicinal herbs double up as effective dyes. Nettle, calendula, comfrey, St johns wort and black walnut are all important medicinal plants and sources of colour. In India there is a even practice called Ayurvastra whereby medicinal herbs are used to dye cloth as a very literal approach to healing. There isn’t any scientific data to back this but I love the idea and I see my textiles as more of a meditative practice and a way to armour yourself spiritually and emotionally with the plant’s healing properties.
