This summer I started learning more about lichens with the help of the University of Minnesota’s Ecology Department. The unique qualities of lichen plant is exciting - part fungi & part algae, they grow all over the world on almost any surface. As I learn more, I find lichens everywhere. Some lichens are known to be a valuable source of natural colors and make earth tones of browns, yellows and oranges to sought after and exciting reds, blues and purples. I’ve always been a little intimated by this prospect as lichen dyes a series of challenges.  From what I’ve read, recipes are somewhat under-documented, kept as trade secrets in dye houses of the 16th and 17th centuries and in some regions, exist as oral traditions passed from one generation to the next. There is also the challenge of identification. With over 30,000 lichen species world-wide, it is difficult for me- a novice to correctly identify lichens.   Also, care must be taken so that a rare or endangered lichen is not foraged by mistake. Finally, some lichens need to be ‘fermented’ - or soaked in ammonia for 4-6 weeks or more in order to create the pigments (acids) for color. This is where the Ecology Department’s knowledge is very valuable and with a few extra samples- we’re going to try and make some dyes!

Some samples are form George A. LLano’s Lichen collection collected in the late 1940’s and 50’s. Llanos traveled the world collected samples , ranging from Japan to the arctic regions of Alaska. I like to think the geography or the places where the lichens were found, what uses they may have had for the local community, the time period when these explorations - such a great story that is linked.

Here’s how the project has progressed so far (December 2021):