Helen’s house is nestled in Oakland behind a wood fence; entering the yard feels like stepping out of reality and into an dreamy lush oasis filled with life: a cat keeps watch, vegetables, trees, and flowers blanket the yard while a stream provides back-up vocals to the singing birds.

Her studio is positioned in the midst of it all. The blanketing plants and flowers provide a picturesque backdrop, but also provide a separate function - they can be used to create dyes and, inside the studio, a variety of flowers, leaves, and branches are waiting to participate in the alchemy of natural dyeing. 

Helen’s approach to natural dyeing is a scientific one, showcasing her deep curiosity, patience, and love of process. But instead of feeling like you’ve wandered into a lab, it feels more like you're watching a dance between the dyeing agent and the fabric.

For example, purple basil is tested on cotton, silk, and wool. Each fabric receives multiple treatments to understand how best to draw out color from the basil and how long the color will last.

It’s clear that Helen’s eye for design, pattern, and color is a seasoned one, trained and refined during her time as a graphic designer. This skill is now hard at work as she fastidiously documents these dyeing experiments in a swoon-worthy notebook. (She now has a book you can check out.)

Listening to Helen talk about what vegetation she’s dried, how it turned into a dye, and how that dye took to different textiles doesn’t just provide an education in the art and science of natural dyeing, but sparks an interest and curiosity about how else we can connect with this planet of ours.

See photos from a lesson with Helen here.