The Colors of Winter: Dyeing Ribbons with Roses & Making Natural Inks
Winter holds a quiet kind of magic. The earth sleeps beneath blankets of frost, trees stand bare and resolute, and the sky shifts between soft grays and sudden golden light. While the world outside stills, creativity can take root indoors. Even in the cold months, nature offers gifts—petals dried from summer’s bloom, windfallen bark, the husks of berries—that can be transformed into color.
This is the beauty of working with natural dyes and inks: you are not only creating, but also carrying forward the story of something that once lived, once swayed in the wind, once rested beneath the stars. These colors hold echoes of rain, warmth, and the seasons that shaped them. And when we bring them into our art, we weave those histories into our own hands.
Ribbons and Roses: A Winter Dyeing Ritual
There is something deeply poetic about dyeing silk or cotton ribbons with dried roses. The petals, once vibrant and fragrant, still hold onto their pigments, waiting to bloom again in a different form. As they steep in warm water, the color seeps out slowly, like a whispered memory. Soft blush pinks, dusty mauves, and the faintest hint of gold can emerge, depending on the variety of rose and any alchemy you choose to introduce—perhaps a touch of iron for deeper hues or lemon for brightness.
This process is simple, yet meditative. A pot of simmering water, a handful of petals, fabric drifting in the infusion like clouds. Time does the work. And when you lift the fabric out, something entirely new has taken shape—subtle, earthy, alive with quiet wonder.
This is the art of winter: taking what has been, and shaping it into something meant for the days ahead.
How to Dye Lace Ribbons with Roses
You can try this at home with just a few materials:
Materials:
Natural silk or cotton ribbon (undyed, preferably pre-washed)
A handful of fresh or dried rose petals (different roses will yield different hues) You can also dye with rose hips, the seed pod of the rose plant.
A pot and water
A splash of vinegar or alum (to help set the dye)
(Optional) Rusty nails or iron water for deepening tones
Process:
Fill a small pot with water and bring it to a simmer.
Add the fresh or dried rose petals and a splash of vinegar or alum. Stir gently.
Let the petals simmer for 30-60 minutes, watching as the water absorbs their color.
Strain out the petals and place your ribbon into the dye bath.
Let the fabric soak for at least an hour (or overnight for richer hues).
Rinse gently in cool water, then hang to dry.
Each ribbon will carry the unique imprint of the roses, no two ever exactly the same.
Making Your Own Natural Ink from Winter’s Gifts
Beyond dyes, nature also offers ways to make rich, earthy inks. Walnut husks can create deep browns, elderberries give purples and blues, and even windfallen acorns or oak galls yield striking sepia tones. Making ink from these materials is both an art and an experiment—a process of extracting, reducing, and refining color into something that can be brushed across a page.
A simple way to start is by boiling walnut shells or old black tea bags, then straining the liquid and adding a drop of gum arabic for thickness. With a homemade ink, every brushstroke holds a piece of the landscape it came from.
Bringing the Earth Into Your Art
Working with natural materials reminds us that art is not separate from the world around us—it is part of it. When you dye a ribbon with roses, or sketch with ink made from the husks of walnuts, you are collaborating with time, with seasons, with nature itself. You are telling a story that is both ancient and entirely your own.
Perhaps a small bundle of hand-dyed ribbon will find its way into a letter or wrap around a gift. Perhaps a brush dipped in homemade ink will sketch the memory of a branch weighed down with snow. These small, intentional acts turn the quiet of winter into something luminous.
Even while the earth sleeps, creativity is awake. And what you make today will carry the whispers of winter forward into the light of spring.