Urban Dyeing - Plaza Midwood

Urban Plan_ting

Experiment 1: Plaza Midwood neighborhood

I collected various plants from around my neighborhood in Charlotte. Plaza Midwood is one of the areas going through immense change in the next four years. Based on city plans, the neighborhood will be completely different and contain more national/regional businesses to replace the mom-and-pops that have been here 30+ years.

Charlotte is a former textile town. I chose to use the dye on a cotton t-shirt to represent the roots of the city.

I cleaned the shirt in various baths of soda ash. I then boiled the plant sample, removed the plant material, and let the shirt sit in the dye overnight

Plant Sample: Plaza Midwood

Result

The result was subtle. I’ll need to use less water and let the dye develop longer. Sample seemed representative of more non-native species but included a rock from the train track that runs through Plaza.