Use Native American plants to create multi-colored dyes.
Some plants in the United States were used by Native Americans to create dyes for clothing, rugs and hair coloring. Dyes are extracted from plants by boiling the plant's leaves, florets or fruit in water; once the water is boiling, clothing is placed into the mixture. The plants' fruit should be fully ripe and flowers must be in full bloom before dye can be extracted. The primary season to find plants with blooming flowers or ripened fruit is summer.
Black-eyed Susan
The black-eyed Susan is the state flower of Maryland and seen in the eastern and midwestern United States. This flower grows up to three feet in maturity and features yellows florets surrounding a dark brown center. Dye colors gathered from black-eyed Susans include pale yellow, olive green and greenish gold. The colors extracted from these flowers are generally used for dyeing wool. Black-eyed Susans bloom in the summer and are biennial, which means they only live for two years.
Jewelweed
The orangish jewelweed flower is also referred to as a "touch-me-not," since the plant's seeds will split open at the slightest touch. This plant grows up to five feet, and the juices from the plants stem are used by herbalists for treating rashes caused by poison ivy. The whole plant is used for making orangish-yellow dye and hair coloring. The jewelweed is found in throughout the United States and Canada, with exception of southwestern states, such as Nevada and Arizona.
Huckleberry
Huckleberry plants are common in the northwestern and Pacific Coast regions of the United States. The plant bears violet berries, and this fruit is the state fruit of Idaho. The berries of these plants are used to make lavender dyes; huckleberries are used to create ink and are suitable for consumption. Huckleberry bushes grow up to seven feet in maturity, and its fruit ripens in August and September. The bushes are usually found in mountainous areas or at mountain bases.
Black Walnut
The husks that protect nuts grown from black walnut trees were used by Cherokee Native Americans for cloth-dyeing purposes. Black walnut husks' dye color is yellow when it's ripe, but turns black as the fruit deteriorates. The nuts inside the black walnut's husks are edible and were an important source of nutrition for early American colonists. This tree is found throughout the eastern United States to the Great Plains of Nebraska and Kansas. At maturity, the black walnut tree can reach heights of up 150 feet.
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