I work at HeenaAgrima, mostly behind a screen — managing the website, shaping product stories, making sure our words do justice to the craft. Until recently, natural dyeing was something I understood conceptually, not physically. I knew the philosophy, the materials, the sustainability vocabulary. But I had never stood next to a fire, never touched a hot bundle of fabric, never waited for colour to reveal itself.
That changed during the Dirty Pot Eco Printing workshop led by Agni from Greece at the HeenaAgrima studio. Agni had first come to HeenaAgrima as a participant, to learn the Natural Indigo Dyeing process with us. During that time, she shared that she also conducts Eco Printing workshops in Greece — a practice she herself learned under Nicola Brown, whose work has deeply influenced contemporary eco printing techniques. Today, Agni carries this knowledge forward through her own practice and company, Craftypaths, where she continues to explore and teach eco printing and natural processes.
Before the Fire: Preparing the Cloth
The process begins quietly, long before anything looks dramatic. The first step is scouring — cleansing the fabric so it is ready to receive colour. I learned that this step changes depending on the nature of the fabric itself. Protein-based fabrics and plant-based fabrics are treated differently, each requiring its own care and understanding. This felt important: the process already demands that you respect what the material is, instead of forcing it to behave the same way.
Once scoured, the shirts and t-shirts were dipped into an alum solution. This mordanting step prepares the fabric for what comes next, helping it bind with the colours that will emerge later. At this stage, everything still looked ordinary. Clean. Blank. Almost too simple for what was about to happen.
The Dirty Pot
At the centre of the workshop was the pot.
A large vessel set on fire, filled with water — but not clean, neutral water. This water had already lived a life. Rusty iron pins — the same humble ferrous elements that later transform into ferrous sulphate — had been boiled in it earlier. (At HeenaAgrima, we also work closely with such materials and supply ferrous sulphate for natural dyeing, understanding how iron quietly shapes colour and depth.) It had been boiled earlier with rusty pins. Into it went onion peels, flowers, leaves, bits of rusted iron, and generous amounts of vinegar. Waste, remnants, forgotten things — all collected and given a second purpose.
This is why it is called a dirty pot.
Nothing about it is controlled or sanitised. It is unpredictable by design. The pot boiled for hours, slowly becoming darker, richer, heavier with possibility.
Building the Bundle
While the pot continued its slow transformation, we worked on the fabric.
Leaves of eucalyptus, onion peels, flowers like rose and marigold — all were placed carefully onto the cloth. Each element chosen intuitively rather than scientifically. Once arranged, the fabric was folded tightly around a copper rod. Thread was wrapped around it again and again — wrapped with thread many times over, again and again — until the fabric turned into a compact bundle, holding everything firmly in place.
This part felt almost meditative. Repetitive. Patient. There was no rushing it.
Into the Fire
The bundles were lowered into the dirty pot and left there for two to three hours. Heat, rust, plants, time — all working together. No one could predict the exact outcome. And that uncertainty was strangely comforting.
When the bundles were finally pulled out, they were hot, heavy, and silent. No previews. No hints.
The Unfolding
This is where the magic happens.
Slowly, the threads were removed. The fabric was unwrapped from the rod. Leaves, flowers, peels were peeled away one by one. What remained felt almost unreal — organic imprints, soft yet striking marks, colours born from waste and patience.
Each piece was different. Completely unrepeatable.
Watching this transformation stirred something in me. Taking what is discarded and turning it into something beautiful. Reimagining a garment without replacing it. Making something new, every single time, without excess.
What Stayed With Me
As someone experiencing natural dyeing for the first time, this process shifted my understanding of clothing.
This wasn’t about trends or perfection. It was about slowing down. About honouring materials. About remembering that for centuries — in India and across the world — people dyed and treated textiles with care because they understood one simple truth: the skin is the largest organ of the body.
Natural dyes, ancient processes, slow techniques — they weren’t aesthetics. They were knowledge systems.
Standing there, watching colours emerge from rust, leaves, and time, I felt deeply connected to the philosophy we talk about so often at HeenaAgrima: sustainability, circularity, respect for craft.
This workshop didn’t just teach a technique. It made me curious. Curious about what we have forgotten. Curious about what else can be relearned.
Sometimes, all it takes is a dirty pot to remind you how alive fabric can be.