The Color of the Mountains
Written by Maria Jose Gomez.
Photos by Andrea Tamayo for Thread Caravan.
The color of the mountain.
Ahmed has been dyeing with henna, a natural dye that comes from the henna tree and grows in the same place where he was born, Zagora, in the southeast of Morocco, for three years. Ahmed now lives near Marrakech and although he is far from his hometown, somehow it was here that he reconnected with his territory, through the process of dyeing and materiality.
We met Ahmed on our dyeing day with Thread Caravan. Between the curiosity to understand new dyeing processes, especially with wool and the excitement of obtaining new colors, we started the natural dyeing workshop with Ahmed. His eyes light up as he talks about the process, the fiber and the plant. With precision and patience, Ahmed guides us through a color extraction process to dye wool.
We start by preparing the skeins of Siroua wool, a soft wool, which characterizes the breed of sheep and their care. Once the skeins are ready, we prepare the dye bath with dried henna leaves. Among the particular smell of the dried plant, an earthy smell that reminds us that we are working with plants of the territory, so we must be careful and accurate with the amount.
Lemon, alum, iron and copper are the main ingredients to modify the color and prepare the fiber. While heating the water and waiting for it to reach the right temperature, we walk around the workshop. Large pots, a color journal hanging on the walls with all the shades of color that Ahmed has dyed and that reflect the infinite possibilities of this process. Dry pigments in glass jars and of course, the carpets that decorate the place. A dream workshop.
With the dye bath ready and extracting the color from the dry leaves, the water now looks red-terracotta and we introduce the first skeins. The wool takes on a color between brown and orange that with time intensifies. Then we make the changes of tones, changing the pH of the dye bath with copper and iron. The tones are now greens, darker oranges and yellows, achieving a color palette that matches the landscape.
After a few hours of experimenting and understanding the color, we hung the skeins to dry in the shade and looking at them all together, it was wonderful to see the hues of the henna on the wool.
With much patience, we finished the day of dyeing, understanding that Ahmed's love of dyeing is what makes him so precise and consistent. He keeps a color journal, where he has samples of wool that he dyes almost every day to keep track of the pH changes of the water and translate the life of the plant into color. An exercise that I will certainly incorporate in my practice as a natural dyer.
Morocco is captured in the color of the dyed wool. Color of mountains and dried henna leaves. I am convinced that in each territory visited, the plants translate into color, the daily life that inhabits the landscapes.
