Vivid yellow from the Irish landscape
During spring and yearly summer, the Irish landscape takes on a vivid yellow colour. Is it the same where you are? The wild gorse shrubs illuminate the country side and the coastal areas. It is a sight to behold!
They are many plants which give yellow pigments (flavonoids). In particular in yellow flowers such as weld, camomille, sunflowers, marigold, wild carrots to name a few.
Gorse is sometimes called Furze in Ireland. It had many uses in times past, such cattle feed, roofing material, chimney cleaning among other things. This wild plant spreads easily and takes over land rapidly. It is even regarded as a weed. It will flourish in any land and grow strong branches and seeds all over the fields. You can at times see wild fires burning in the country side, sometimes done by farmers to clear their land, although this is not allowed.
Some interesting facts:
They can grow up to 2m high and have numerous thorns. They withstand harsh conditions.
The peaflowers grow on stems of green spikes. They form hedgerows throughout the country side from February to may.
They belong to the family Fabaceae.
Gorse seeds were introduced to the American west coast in the1800s and also in Australia where it became a major problem for farmers and national parks.
It is an aggressive invader. It is however valuable to Irish wildlife, such as stonechat, bees, spiders.
I find them beautiful and love walking through the paths where they shine. After many years in Ireland, I decided to forage and make colours from these vibrant yellow flowers. They are listed as a dye colour. Picking them takes a long time. Their spikes make the process particularly slow and sometimes painful. With a little help and few “ouch” along the way, I finally got a bowl full.
To make the pigment:
It is the same process as with other plants. I made a dye first. When simmered, they produce a wonderful coconut aroma. I then extract the pigments using a mix alum and sodium carbonate to obtain a lake pigment and then let it dry.
The resulting yellow is beautifully vibrant and cheery. I find, it works so well with charcoal as a contrasting colour. It has a very good lightfastness.
The gorse pigment works beautifully for printmaking, emphasised by the contrasting charcoal and merging to an olive green. As seen below.
Dyer’s Broom
As gorse flowers disappear, Broom bushes grow nearby. Not as widespread as gorse, they also grow yellow flowers from May to August. They grow up to 1m high, are non spiky and their flowers are more rounded than the gorse flowers.
I foraged twice and made yellow colour first and a light green colour the second time. I am not sure at this point why the second attempt resulted in green. It might be due to the soil where the bush was growing. The lemony green is quite interesting and I am looking forward to use it.
I hope you enjoyed reading about these bright yellow bushes. I would love to know if you have any wherever you live in the world or something similar? Any question or comment give me a shout.
Until next time, and thank you for reading,
Fabienne
Recommended books and sites: Guide des teintures naturelles (Marie Marquet) - Teindre avec les plantes (Elisabeth Dumont) - The Art and Science of natural dyes (Joy Boutrup & Catherine Ellis) - www.couleurgarance.com -
