Mainly been using pigments for painting leather and for dying porky quills. Here is a list of some things I have used. Most of the times I have used these for painting it was with hide glue or egg for a medium...
-have made verdigris from copper and painted and dyed with it.
-have used bloodroot for dying quills
-have used a few different ochres for painting, some I processed myself from a site in Canada
-have used walnut ooze for dying and painting
-have used soot for painting black
Short list of things yet to try (this summer)...
-Algae for green stain/paint
-Bedstraw (Galium) for dying quills (red??)
wow isaac-you have much more experience than i do.
would ya mind posting some photos of things you have dyed and/or painted?
i did see the quill work you did on the pipe posted on gun docs pipe topic.
i have the utmost respect for those who quill-it is a much more difficult process than beading and is nearly becoming a "lost art"
there are much fewer folks practicing this than even 30 yrs ago when i first learned beading
in this book i am now reading it talks about the southern ca peoples collecting algae or pond scum for blues and greens
camping this weekend on a farm with several ponds, one which tends to produce scum and algae. will have to gather some for drying.
have only worked with "store bought" earth pigments, walnut ink i boiled down and a bit of ochre from rocks i found and ground.
have used osage dust to dye once. used hide glue for painting on a bow and arrows.
need to get myself out doing some more collecting and reading and experimenting.
sure hope others will share their experiences
thanks guys