It’s hard to imagine that avocados could get any better… until you learn that you can dye with them! Both avocado skins and stones (pits) can be used to make dye that ranges in colors from tans to peach to pink to rust. Greyish lavender tones can also be made by dipping avocado dyed fiber into an iron water after bath. In this tutorial, I will show you how to dye with avocados.

Supplies

• Aluminum or stainless steel dye pot (a pot should not be used for food after it has been used for dye)
• Bowl or additional pot
• Clean avocado stones or skins (fresh, frozen or dried)
• Water
• Spoon
• Sieve
• Cheese cloth or cotton muslin
• Fiber that has been scoured and mordanted or pretreated with soy milk

Check out my post about pre-treating fabric with soy milk.

Step 1

Place avocado skins or stones into a pot and cover them with water. The amount of stones or skins that should be used depends on the depth of color you are trying to achieve. For a medium adult t-shirt, I use 3-4 stones or around 10 skins for a light to medium pink. Less stones or skins will give a lighter color and more will give a deeper color.

Step 2

Heat the stones or skins on a low temperature for 1-2 hours. You might be tempted to turn up the heat to get faster results. However, heating avocado dye at a higher temperature causes the color to shift from pink to orange/brown. You should notice that color is beginning to be released into the water after 15-30 minutes of gentle heating.

Step 3

Turn the heat off and allow the dye to rest for at least a couple of hours. I like to let mine sit over night. I sometimes choose to reheat them at a low temperature one more time if I feel that the color is not as deep as I would like it to be.

Step 4

Now the dye is ready to be separated from the stones or skins. Line the mesh strainer with either a double layer of cheese cloth or cotton muslin and pour set it on another bowl or pot. Pour the dye through the cloth lined strainer. The strainer should catch all of the solids and the resulting liquid should be clear and free of debris. I like to squeeze the solid to get every last drop of dye out. The solids can then be saved to use in another dye pot or composted.

Step 5

Wipe out or wash out your dye pot to be sure that it is free of debris. Then pour the dye back in.

Step 6

Wet out your fiber by soaking it in water for at least 30 minutes.

Step 7

Add water to avocado dye so that your fiber or fabric will have enough room to freely move around while remaining covered by dye. You might worry that adding water will weaken the dye. However, the same amount of dye particles will remain in the dye regardless of how much water is added. It might take a little longer for the dye particles to find your fiber but they eventually will.

Step 8

Squeeze out the excess water and place your fiber into the dye. Give it a good stir and make sure that all of the air bubbles have been pushed out so it can sink under the dye.

Step 9

Heat the dye and fiber or fabric on a low heat for around an hour, stirring and checking the color frequently. Stirring often helps reduce the chance that the fabric will be dyed unevenly.

To shift the color to a deeper, rusty tone, add a few teaspoons of baking soda to the dye and stir well to dissolve.

Step 10

Remove the fabric from the dye and squeeze out as much of the excess dye as possible. If you’re satisfied with the color, you can wash your fabric with a gentle detergent and hang to dry or in the dryer according to your fabric’s care instructions.

For more information, please check out my self-paced online Natural Dye Course.

Natural Dye: Cellulose Fibers