Artisans of Dartmoor - Book - Page 166
at my most creative,” she says. “It’s hard to tap into
that in a busy place full of distractions.”
In her kitchen, atop a cream wood-fired Aga, a
huge pot of indigo dye steeps its contents in deep,
inky blues. The work surfaces are given over to vintage
enamel bowls, each filled with swirls of fabrics in
various stages of colourisation.
Wooden shelves are lined with glass preserving
jars full of the dried petals of roses, marigolds,
and cosmos, picked by Babs from Southcombe’s
apothecary garden and local flower farms. Dotted
between them are silvery oyster shells containing
powdery hillocks of exotic plant extracts in hot pinks,
paprikas and mustard yellows.
Hanging from a drying rack fashioned from
a branch are string-tied bunches of foraged and
garden-grown flowers: mugwort, dock, weld, tansy,
hollyhocks, fennel and wormwood – their summer
scents mellowing and merging into a gentle musk.
The floor is scattered with wicker baskets
containing fabric swatches dyed in the muted, earthy
tones lent by Dartmoor’s flora: warm antique pinks
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from hawthorn, sage greens from foxgloves and
nettles, and buttermilk yellows from the fibrous gorse
flowers that upholster the moor in spring. “Dyeing
can feel like white magic. By taking a plant, extracting
its colour, and transmuting it into something else, I’m
making it live longer,” she says.
Stored in vintage ink bottles and in vials tucked
away in old cigar boxes are dye extracts, which Babs
mixes into ink for her artwork and hand-carved
block-print designs. Hanging from a wooden rail
in a corner are raw fabrics awaiting their colourful
futures: organic, cruelty-free silks, natural hemps
and linens, and unbleached cotton. “Everything
I produce is completely biodegradable – even my
packaging,” she says.
For Babs, natural dyeing is not only a way to avoid
chemicals but is also a means of giving a new lease of
life to stained clothes and connecting with nature.
“I’m a herbalist, so for me, dyeing isn’t just about
aesthetics; it’s about cultivating a spiritual relationship
with plants.” It also helps her connect with other
makers in Dartmoor’s vibrant and diverse creative
The Natural Dyer • Babs Behan
