I grew the safflower from seed that I started in early April. I got 7 plants to take hold in the garden. The weather here was very damp and rainy this summer and I think they like hotter dry weather, so they didn’t get too many flowers and started going brown very soon after they bloomed.
Dye garden plants from seeds. 
Safflower in bloom along with calendula 
Safflower 
Safflower petals drying out.
I was able to pick and dry just enough flower for 10oz of ink.
The process is a bit more complicated than most of my other inks. The first part of the process is to basically wash out the yellow from the petals till the water runs clear.
Once the liquid was clear of the yellow I started again with fresh water and added soda ash to raise the PH. Then I let it sit for a few hours to pull the pink out of the petals.
It didn’t quite turn out as pink as I thought it would be but it’s really really beautiful.
Leah's Notes and Art Blog 
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