I tend follow the rules when it comes to eco dyeing. It's not because I'm particularly obedient although I mostly am. Rather it's because I hate the disappointment when things don't turn out how I expect. So I follow the rules looking for guaranteed results. Of course eco dyeing is like everything else and there are no guarantees. Less than the other things in life actually because the very nature of the process is mysterious just like the plants we use to dye with.

Luckily for me then, there are people like the wonderful Carmen. She's the mom of a good friend who was visiting from Canada. She joined us for a morning of eco dyeing and took to it like a duck to water. She loved our early morning walk with the kids to forage for plants in the neighbourhood. She adored the eco aspect of eco printing and no need to buy materials. And she loved the beauty of the eco dyed scarves we made.

It's thanks to Carmen's adventurous spirit and creative questioning that we now know pomegranate flower buds give color when eco dyeing.  She found them in her daughter's garden, sliced them and discovered a new source of colour. You can see the gorgeous pomegranate bud outlines and colour in the above photos. All the scarves in the photos were dyed by Carmen, her daughter Max and her granddaughter Rosie. It was pretty special to be spending a day dyeing with three generations of women.

Thank you Carmen for joining our eco dyeing gang!