India Flint has published a Blurb book called Stuffed Steeped & Stored. In it she describes a way to color and print fabrics, and papers using a minimum of fresh plant material. If you are familiar with canning or preserving using the Hot Water Bath canning method or Pressure canning, you can do the same thing. I grew up helping to can and preserve produce and jams and jellies with my family since I was about 10 years old. My first canning experience with dyeing was back in July 2011 when I placed fabric and cosmos dye in a quart jar and sealed it to see if the dye would take. It did. In May of 2011, I canned 12 quarts of vegetable material to make my own dye extracts. Those jars are still sealed today, except for one. A jar of Eucalyptus bark became unsealed. There is no sign of mold or mildew inside that jar 2 years later. Could it be because Eucalyptus is both anti-fungal and Anti-bacterial? Here are some photos of the canned dyestuffs:
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| 2 bQts. of Elderberry extract from 2012 |
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| Left, Mullien extract, right, Eucalyptus bark extract, both from 2012 |
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| Lt. to rt.: Elderberry extract, new Eucalyptus bark extract, cosmos extract and 2012 Eucalyptus extract |
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| 12 quarts of dyestuffs from 2012, still unopened and stronger in color. |
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