Step one

Preparation:

1. Pick the leaves fresh from plant. A large handful or a fixed amount of leaves e.g.:50
2. Wash them in cold water
3. Put them in the measuring jug and squash them down to see how much you have or weigh them

• This can be useful if you want to repeat the recipe many times and record your results/variances

Step two

Cooking

1. Add the washed leaves into the saucepan
2. Add the tap water 
• This can be cold or preheated; either may change the result of the final mixture.
3. Cover with a lid and cook the water and leaves in the pan for 10 minutes. 
• Try not to remove the lid if possible.
4. Strain or sieve the mixture. The variety of sage will likely change the colour created.
5. You can store this in a clean jar or glass. 
• You can keep this in the fridge also, if you don’t want to use it straight away.
• You can even freeze the mixture once it is cool.

Step three

Notes:

• You can use the sage dye straight away 
• You could also store this in a clean jar or glass. 

• You can keep this in the fridge also, if you don’t want to use it straight away.
• You can even freeze the mixture once it is cool.

• Try to vary the amount of leaves or water in the recipe to get a weaker or more concentrated solution.
• Try this with the following plants: Mint, Rosemary, Lavender… or others you may have locally. Maybe even the leaves from your tea! You might also want to try it with the stems.
• You can then use this sage dye mixture in a biomaterial recipe, in addition or replacing  part of the water in the recipe.