Meet Alice Glass | Natural Dyer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Alice Glass and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Alice, can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?
I grew up in a small town 50 miles north of San Francisco called Sebastopol. At the time, the area was peopled with creatives and artists everywhere. I was fortunate enough to attend an elementary school that encouraged creativity, imagination and art and was taught basic artistry skills at a young age including knitting, crocheting, music and woodwork. Those skills gave me a strong foundation early on as a “maker of things.” I’ve always been good at using my hands whether it’s building with wood or fabric, drawing, painting or playing an instrument and I feel so grateful that my early education fueled those natural abilities. My parents are both entrepreneurs and started a catering company that operates a food booth at concerts, street fairs and local events. Growing up they showed me not only that one could work for themselves, but that it was both incredibly satisfying and incredibly hard. I have memories of money coming in and taking vacations as well as financially tight and low times and stressful tax audits. But what I don’t remember is despair. Money would come and money would go and while there were failures, if they worked hard enough they could always pay the bills. My brother and I worked for them starting in our early teens and the work ethic they instilled in us is unparalleled (if I may be so bold)! The drive and determination I learned from my mom especially is something for which I will be forever grateful.

But my degree is in Theatre Performance. I earned a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Acting from Southern Oregon University in Ashland, Oregon but after graduating from college, my biggest issue with acting, as an artistic person, was in order to do my art I was dependent on someone telling me if, when and where I was allowed to do it. So I started a small theatre company and co-wrote, directed and acted in a self-produced show that toured across the country. That was when I really started to get the entrepreneurial itch. Up until that point I had worked in the service industry, but finally I was making my own (teeny bit of) money! And I couldn’t wait to go to our writers’ meetings and rehearsals were a joy because I had only myself and four co-founders to answer to. After that chapter closed I moved back to the San Francisco Bay Area to pursue theatre and worked odd theatre jobs and tried to love it like I had loved operating my own theatre company. But I was the lowest person in the hierarchy (not my desired position, mind you) and didn’t see myself climbing quickly anytime soon. When the pandemic happened, I took the opportunity and unemployment money to jump on building my own business. Sometimes I mourn the loss of theatre, but when I think about my work now, it’s very much like theatre. I spend a long time in a dark studio working to produce something that will eventually be seen. I arrive to an artisans market and set the stage for selling my items I’ve spent long hours creating, I smile and engage and present myself, my story, my art and at the end of the day, I tear it all down and my 100 square feet of pavement becomes a parking spot again. If you didn’t see it, you wouldn’t know it was there, much like theatre. And I wouldn’t have the stamina to do it every weekend if I hadn’t grown up knowing how rewarding the hard, busy times are and how to balance work and life and to always take Mondays off even when everyone everywhere else is starting their week. As a daughter of entrepreneurs and a student of the arts, the early lessons I learned have been instrumental in starting my own artistic career.


Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
People have been dyeing cloth with plants, bugs and minerals for thousands of years. There’s record of Madder Root being used to dye fibers in 3000 BCE! I think this rekindling of ancestral art is what is so fascinating to me, tuning into how different cultures have expressed themselves through their clothing, even thousands of years ago. Natural dyeing is just as it sounds, dyeing fiber with any natural materials. These materials can include roots, leaves, bark, minerals, bugs, dirt, flowers and wood. I love fusing these old world techniques with modern garments and exploring local color that’s right outside my front door. I’m most excited about creating wearable, useful and everyday art. Life should be beautiful so why not surround yourself with pretty things! I’m so head over heels in love with silk and especially silk pillowcases I sometimes dream of making them exclusively. I was gifted a silk pillowcase as an acne ridden pre-teen and immediately saw the benefits and as an added bonus felt so luxurious and sophisticated. That pillowcase took me through high school, first boyfriends, college and months in Italy and I laughed and cried into it more times than I could count. While my first pillowcase finally fell apart, I’ve used silk pillowcases ever since and feel honored to turn a mundane item into art and something with which you can have such an intimate relationship. Starting my own business was difficult. The hardest part for me was committing to actually doing it! “Do I buy 100 business cards or save money per each and buy 500?” “Will I even be in business next month?” I remember ordering silk pillowcases when I first decided I wanted to dye them and ordered 5, just to be safe. Now I order hundreds! I’m so happy I took it slow in the beginning stages because I got a really good sense of which items sell well and which don’t without having so much extra inventory and wasting precious money.

I meet a lot of people who ask if plant dyes will fade. And the short answer is no. But the long answer is that it depends! I carefully clean and prepare the fiber (called scouring and mordanting) to help form a chemical bond between the fiber and color molecules. This is the first step in creating a piece that will last for years and years. The second is using dye materials that are colorfast: this does not include beets, blueberries, turmeric, red cabbage or black beans, to name a few. Rule of thumb: Mother Nature didn’t create plants for the purpose of nutrients AND a suitable dye material; so if it tastes good, don’t waste it in a dye pot. I’m sure there is a piece or two out there where the color faded thanks to an error I may have made in the mordanting process, but I feel so strongly that in order to keep this art form alive, natural dyers have to help other natural dyers keep the reputation of creating long lasting color. So in fact the long answer is if the dyer has been true to the art form, used the right types of dye plants and correctly prepared the fabric to be dyed, no, your plant dyed pieces will not fade.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Jenny Dean’s book Wild Colour helped jump start my natural dye knowledge. My dear friend and fellow maker and jewelry designer Claire Rousseau of Wild Kind Jewelry was already doing maker’s markets and encouraged me to start my business! We’re always chatting business strategy!

The Dogwood Dyer and The Barefoot Dyer whose Instagram accounts delight and inspire and many other fellow natural dyers I’ve connected with on that platform!

Website: www.alicerevadesigns.com

Instagram: @alicerevadesigns

Facebook: www.facebook.com/alicerevadesigns

Image Credits
Sarah Renee