FLAGSTAFF — Navajo dye expert Mark Deschinny — like his grandmother and mother before him — uses local plants to make natural dyes for Navajo weaving.
Blue penstemon. Sagebrush. Holly berries. Cliff rose. The plants are found throughout the Southwest for the task, Deschinny said. And the task is a natural one, he added. Here, one will not find acids, lye, bleach or Kool-Aid.
Following in the tradition of four generations of his family, Deschinny is an expert at using natural materials to make dyes that color wool in traditional Navajo weaving.
More than 20 people attended a presentation Deschinny put on at Coconino Center for the Arts July 12 to show just how he makes naturally dyed yarn for weaving.
Deschinny, a former engineering technician, took on the dyeing challenge when he returned to the reservation.
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The reason: "Cultural retention," he said.
As he began learning about the plants and minerals that go into making dyes for wool, baskets and pottery, he had a disturbing thought.
"We realized a lot of Navajos and children on the reservation didn't know a lot about these plants," he said.
Most of the people he asked about dyes used synthetic, exotic, chemical-laden products.
So, he immediately went to work to promote — and keep alive — traditional Navajo dyeing processes.
He makes presentations at schools, colleges and museums to show how to use local plants, minerals, water and his family's knowledge to make vibrant-colored yarn spun from local sheep's wool.
He demonstrates the ceremonial value of the plants and minerals to Navajo life and the processes and tools used in their crafts.
Dyes change in an area because of different plant species, he said. "But that's what makes the dyes in those areas unique," he added.
For instance, in and around Flagstaff, expect to see dyes made of blue penstemon, Rocky Mountain bee plant, walnut leaves, bark and hulls, sagebrush, rabbit brush and pinyon.
Just before the presentation he had been out searching for plants traditionally used in the dyeing process. His mother continues to teach weaving at University of New Mexico at Gallup.
His family is known for creating "dye charts." In fact, he said, his grandmother invented them.
Dye charts take a local plant and attach a piece of yarn dyed with the plant that runs to a makeshift loom with the start of a Navajo rug.
Flagstaff resident Kathy Pray attended the presentation.
"I'm a spinner and a weaver," she said.
She learned how to spin and weave in Brazil, where they also used natural dyes.
"I was curious what they use for natural dyes here," she said.
She has a partial rug on her loom now.
Although the flavor of the rug she's working on is Navajo, it's not a traditional design.
She said she spins her yarn in the winter because working with wool is a "warm process."
But dyeing is good for the summer when you can boil the plants and the yarn outside, she said.
Although Deschinny does not have children, he said if he does, he will continue the dyeing tradition with them.
"This is one of the things I'll be doing forever," he said.
