Natural Dyes

We wanted to paint our strawbale compost toilet privy a nice creamy color - so where else to turn but to the thousands of Queen Anne’s Lace flowers growing in the meadow?

The steps in making this lime wash are fairly easy and straight forward.

Step 1)  Gather several bags of Queen Anne’s Lace flower tops

Step 2) Grind these flowers in a blender.  You will end up with a fairly vile looking pot of green sludge.  Simmer this glop at about 150-200 degrees F for about an hour.

Step 3)  Strain out the vegetable matter from the mix.  You will end up with a orange/yellow watery mix.

Step 4) We had earlier prepared a lime wash mix (we will talk of this in another spot on our site).  So have that ready and waiting.

Step 5)  Add the dye to the lime putty.  You will mix these in a ratio of 2 parts dye to 1 part putty.

Step 6)  Now mix it thoroughly and voila - you have a nice creamy colored lime wash.