Slow Grown: Plants, Folklore and Natural Dyeing

Slow Grown: Plants, Folklore and Natural Dyeing

Women, witches and healers throughout time have practised dyeing out of necessity and joy, and passed down the sacred knowledge to their children. Now rooted in the pages of this zine, we honour these women - the women who taught us how to deliver our babies, to use herbs as medicines, to cook, spin, sew, and dye.

This zine turns our eyes to the great histories of natural dyers. It features 8 dye recipes available to any forager, alongside their accompanying folklore. Including oak, apple, and elder, this zine will teach readers the basics of natural dyeing with local and readily available ingredients, thereby helping in saving the ancient practice of colouring cloth.

Its author, artist Ciara Callaghan, hopes that by practicing natural dyeing the reader will also enjoy a new and intimate relationship with the natural spaces around them.

About the Author

Ciara Callaghan is an artist based in the UK working primarily in textiles. Through her research and practice in dyeing, embroidery and quilt-making, Ciara explores the role of heritage craft in contemporary culture, feminism and the interrelation between object and owner. She is interested in themes of place-making and belonging; the importance of hyper local colour and textile objects in relation to place.

Published by Common Threads Press
ISBN: 9781399920322

Founded in 2019 by Laura Moseley, Common Threads Press is a small, independent publisher of books and zines that uplift histories of creative work. Common Threads Press is inspired by and indebted to the rich history of independent, grassroots publishing that centres voices from the margins — spotlighting the political and cultural relevance of crafts that has long been overlooked or dismissed in mainstream publishing.