Northern Bedstraw Dye

Northern Bedstraw
Galium boreale

Description: Bedstraw is a member of the madder family, Rubiaceae.  Like Common Madder, the roots of the bedstraws can be used to make a red dye.  Northern bedstraw has four slender leaves in whorls around the stem, and the tiny white flower clusters are sweetly fragrant.  My bedstraw grows along the country gravel road at the end of our driveway, seeming to prefer the Southern side of the road.  See my Guide to Harvesting Bedstraw for plant pictures and how to harvest the roots.

Results: Pictured from left to right are wool with no mordant, wool with Alum mordant, wool with Iron mordant, cotton with Alum mordant, and cotton with Iron mordant.  For color reference, the background is a white Bounty paper towel.

Plant prep: Reference the guide linked above for cleaning the roots.

Dye process (the process below was based on several tips I have picked up to get the reddest results possible):

1. Add 2 cups of water and an antacid to your non-reactive metal pot.  (I used a regular strength Tums)  This keeps the dye from becoming acidic and leaning toward the orange end of the red spectrum.
2. Add the clean bedstraw roots, either fresh or dried, to the dye pot.  I would guess that I used about 1/3 c. roots if I had chopped them into little pieces, however I left mine whole.
3. Put the pot on the burner and heat it but do not boil, leaving it on the heat for one hour.
4. Remove the pot from the heat and allow it to cool completely.
5. Add your pre-wetted fiber to the dye pot and heat it again, still not allowing it to boil. Because the roots are still in the pot and could stick in your yarn, you might want to first contain the roots in cheesecloth.
6. Leave the roots and fiber on the heat for another hour, then remove the pot from the heat.
7. Allow the contents to cool and sit overnight.  (once cooled, I had moved the contents of the pot to a plastic container so that I could use my pot for more dye-making the remainder of the evening)
8. The next morning, rinse out your fiber with warm water and allow to dry.

Notes: In using some bedstraw root for experimenting with a fermentation vat, I noticed that the color seems to darken over time.  I had added only one long root to a jar of water, and after about 4 days the water was quite red.  I would guess that extending the length of time between the first heating and adding your fiber by a day or two might yield even darker reds and/or allow one to use fewer roots for dye.  I have not tested this - it's just a theory.
I also remember reading that dried bedstraw root yields a truer red than fresh, but again this is something that I have not tested.  I am, however, in the process of drying some roots to try using later this winter when I have more wool spun.