Sunday Visit: Babs Behan & Connecting Deeper With Dye Plants

Today’s Sunday Visit is with natural dyer and specialist of non-toxic natural dyeing techniques and bio-regional, regenerative textile systems, Babs Behan. Babs is the author of one of the newest books in our book store, Botanical Dyes: Plant To Print Dyes, Techniques & Projects. She is also the author of Botanical Inks Plant-To-Print Dyes, Techniques and Projects Founder of Botanical Inks non-toxic natural dye studio and the Bristol Cloth Project.

Babs tells us she is committed to the transformation of our textile industry and the possibility of global environmental and cultural regeneration, inspired by her own connection with nature.

“I believe in the village-model of collaboration and solidarity, and the importance of fibre sovereignty (along with food and energy sovereignty), to empower ourselves at a local level as people who are connected to, and care for, our land and community.”

We’re catching up with her this Sunday to learn more about connecting with plants on a deeper level as well as what makes a meaningful garment.

We’ve also taken 7 of the dyes she talks about in her new book and put them on sale for you this week.

What is your earliest memory of color?

Oh that’s tricky. I’m not sure of the earliest, but an early memory of color is the pink paisley eiderdown I had on my bed from my Granny. It was so beautiful. I loved it. And garish yellow big 60’s daisy flower bed sheets and pillow cases.

In Botanical Dyes you mention creating “meaningful garments.” What does that mean to you?

“Meaningful garments” can be ones with which there is a deeper relationship to the materials. How is it you have met them and harvested them, why you chose them or how you came to love them. The ritual of making the garments and what was learned and felt in the process. As well as the daily act of dressing, choosing to invite the plants the garments came from onto the body, to carry them with us through the day or night.
I believe our clothes can mean so much more to us than perhaps they tend to, and that with meaning there is a sense of connection and spirituality, gratitude and love.

How have you evolved as a dyer since your last book?

Well, I feel that the first edition, Botanical Inks, is very much a deep dive into the art of natural dyeing. It was a generous sharing of everything I had learned and wanted to be known more widely. I wanted natural dyeing to be something that anyone could easily pick up, and replace their common use synthetic materials with.
It was a collection of everything I had found useful and inspiring to me in transitioning from harmful colors and back to our traditional natural sources.
Since the book was published in 2018, now 5 years ago, I have been on a beautiful journey into sensory herbalism, using the intelligence of the whole body to connect with and listen to plants somatically. I have been curious and excited to see how this path of inquiry has been coming to fuse with my natural dye work. What I can see is a deeper natural dye practice, with a more holistic and meaningful relationship with the plants themselves and letting this guide the making.
I’ve been enjoying sharing sensory herbal tea rituals and plant-led movement and mark-making practices in my workshops and events, bringing my students into a deeper connection with the dye plants and allowing our creativity to be more ritualistic.

What is the most important message you’d want people to take away from Botanical Dyes?

Botanical Dyes is an updated version of the first book, with some additional dye color pages including Hawthorn, Cutch and Coreopsis and some new techniques like printing with leaves. I hope the book will inspire some new creativity and refresh this excellent natural dye resource for budding dyers out there.

As with the first edition, I really hope that this book also offers a gateway into a traditional and natural way of creativity, in which the beauty that we create is made of the earth and safe to return to the earth as nutrients instead of pollutants, in a reciprocal cycle that mimics other natural cycles.

Is there a color right now you’re really drawn to?

Right now, it’s all about Hawthorn…go gather those berries before the frost catches them all!