Organically grown and harvested by Sara here on Ancient Future Farm. The seeds are intended as dye not for planting. They are viable but they were cross-pollinated with the native local wild sunflowers that grow prolifically here in the southwest. Hopi sunflower seeds are ph sensitive so will yield different colors depending on what’s present in your water. For me they yield a cherished grayish-tan but I’ve seen other dyers achieve purples and maroons. A near black can be achieved if you treat cellulose fabric first with gall tannin then use iron as a mordant and then dye the fabric with Hopi sunflower seeds.

To make a dye bath boil the seeds in a half gallon of water for 30 minutes to an hour, then strain off the seeds and compost them. Add enough water to the dye bath to submerge your mordanted fiber and slowly bring the dye bath up to about 180f. Hold it at temperature for one hour then either remove the fiber immediately or let it steep in the dye bath for 3-12 hours for deeper shades. If you’re dyeing cellulose fabric I recommend treating it in an iron bath of 1-2% after dyeing for improved colorfastness results.

Each bag contains 200 grams of seeds