Continuing the recent bark theme… and since it is the season of bark shedding for so many local trees, I bring you a Eucalyptus Saligna (Sydney blue gum) bark dyepot. I collected the bark in December and had a very funny conversation with a passerby who had lots of ideas about what I might be doing with that bark. This tree has a rough base but has shed all the bark above it in strips now.
It is a huge tree! It is outside a block of townhouses, where some trees were removed a while back but this one was saved by some local friends.
Enjoy the tree, because as I write I’ve looked into the dye pot where my handspun wool is heating and this is a case of tan again, I believe. Here is the bark after I added rainwater for a few days of soaking.
And here, my friends, is my dyed wool.
And against a background of E Scoparia-dyed merino:
Local & Bespoke 
I have one of those ….the leaves are about the same colour too …. great for a Koala to live in and a beautiful tree
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I’ll keep my eye out for a koala!
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I have several Eucalyptus Saligna in my garden and recently I have collected the bark, leaves and flowers (bitten off by the Lorikeets) for dyeing.
What mordant did you use for dyeing the bark, and have you dyed the leaves or flowers?
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Hello and welcome to natural dyeing! That skein in the post was dyed without a mordant. based on my experiments to date I would suggest using alum for a darker brown. I have never tried dyeing with the flowers, but if you have success I would love to hear about it. I don’t think I have tried dyeing with the leaves either. The E Saligna in my neighbourhood branches so far above the ground I’d have to collect a windfall to try it out. Good luck with your dyeing and congratulations on having such a lovely tree in your garden.
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