A garden to dye for: Turn those flowers and leaves into eye-catching wool dyes
You've seen, smelled and cultivated your favorite plants.
Now, maybe it's time to wear them.
The new book "Harvesting Color: How to Find Plants and Make Natural Dyes" (Artisan) makes a great case for that unlikely project, with stunning photos of yellow coreopsis, emerald-green indigo leaves and purple-black pokeberries juxtaposed with skeins of dyed wool in colors ranging from buff and butter to jade green and cherry red.
Making the dyes in the book requires some planning, harvesting and simmering, but no particular experience or expertise; the knitting and fabric-printing projects are mostly simple and straightforward.
"The practice of making the dyes actually is no more complicated than making tea," says author Rebecca Burgess.
A textile artist from Northern California, Burgess says she's intrigued by the natural world - its colors, cycles and preservation. "How connected can we human beings be with our natural surroundings?" she says. "How close can we get (to nature)? How much can we return to it while still honoring who we are as modern human beings?"
Automata: The Golden Age, 1848-1914: The 
Artisan Spotlight Project - 
Guest 
This week's featured artisan - Barron Design Studio beautiful outdoors-inspired jewelry, check it out!
