In her Tasmanian backyard studio, Kate Fletcher creates colour from leaves, bark and windfallen branches. Working intuitively rather than by strict formula, she scatters plant material across cloth, binds it into bundles and lowers it into simmering dye pots. The colours that emerge – soft yellows, smoky greys, warm pinks and leaf-shaped imprints – reflect the season, the weather and the nature of each plant.
For Kate, natural dyeing is a collaboration with the landscape. “You’re painting with plants,” she says. “The beauty is in the surprise.”