It takes colors as permanently as wool, and more permanently than cotton. For a blue it requires a little longer time to attain to the same depth of color upon flax -- that is, flax takes color ...

A vintage-y mushroom-brown pocket T-shirt. Bizen-yaki is a Japanese style of pottery characterized by high-iron clay fired ...

But if you’re happy just to get color, you can harvest multiple hues from an ordinary backyard. I prefer natural fibers, so I use cotton, linen, and wool.

Wool-on-cotton and silk-on-silk carpets are colored with chemical dyes, which can be as good, or even better, than natural dyes.

Cotton wool is not compostable – even though it’s a natural fibre, it becomes contaminated when used, with the likes of nail polish remover, facial toner or mascara. Photograph: iStock ...