Getting Started with Natural Dyeing

Our weaving program is progressing well. We have had the students producing some nice gauze scarves. That has been the latest project. The weaving takes longer than for kikoys as it is not a tight weave. That means that, although the material costs will be lower, the difference will be made up in the increased labour costs.

That is a problem when the market is being flooded by cheap alternatives from India which are not hand woven. For many, cost is more important than quality. However, I believe there is still a market for something which is made well and which is made by hand. The scarves are beautiful.

Gauze Scarves – the Latest Venture

Showing Off the Scarves

My personal favourite is the red scarves as they change colour from turquoise to red depending on the angle at which you look at them.

Weaving the Scarves

In addition to the products on the floor looms, we’re also continuing with the carpet production. That is more challenging as carpets are naturally more expensive than cotton products made on the floor looms. It is therefore much harder to move these once they have been completed.

In order to help with sales, we’ve decided to do some natural dyeing again. This is not the first time for us to do this, but for the last few terms we’ve only been using natural coloured wool: whites, browns, and mixtures of the two.

Carpets in Natural Colours

We have a number of local plants which we can use. We’ll start with those and once we know what’s available in the garden we’ll be more adventurous and check out some of the plants we can find in the bush around Naivasha.