Information Navajo Rugs Techniques

Vegetal Dyed Wool by Award Winning Navajo Rug Weaver, Charlene Laughing

Charlene Laughing is known for her incredible Navajo Weavings. Her most popular designs include intricate Crystals, sharp Blanket Revivals, and landscape Pictorials. Charlene's Crystal weavings are predominantly made with hand-dyed wool using vegetal / plant based dyes. Dyes she often uses include wild carrot, yellow onion skin, mistletoe, walnut shells, brown lichen, indian tea, Lipton tea, coffee ground, Tabasco sauce, and rabbit brush. The process of hand-dying wool is time intensive, but it gives a weaver more control over her colors and encapsulates a more traditional overall weaving process. Charlene Laughing provided some amazing photos detailing her process for hand-dying her wool to be used in as the yellow wool in a Germantown Revival weaving. Enjoy!