This is Ma’ohauhele, which is a native hibiscus and Hawai’i’s state flower.
(Hibiscus brackenridge)
My good friends, Kuali’i and Lahela Camara, made dye for some kids t-shirts while we were camping in Ka’ū. It’s a simple, organic process that takes about 90 minutes, and is a fun activity for children.. The following is a step by step iPhone account of how this Hawaiian couple makes dye out of Ma’ohauhele (yellow hibiscus).
Step 1: pick the flowers that aren’t open.
Pick the flowers that look like these. Avoid the brown ones if possible.
Step 2: take off the butt from the flower and place flower into a pot. Dispose of butts in a compost heap.
Step 3: add water to pot.
Step 4: simmer the flowers and water on low heat for about 30 minutes.
Step 5: mash the flowers in the pot to get the dye to separate.
Step 6: strain the dye from the mashed flowers using a colander.
Step 7: add lime to make the dye darker and it also makes the dye set better on material. Ancient Hawaiians grounded up coral to get the lime.
Step 8: make test strips on a lousy shirt to see how much lime to mix in. The more lime the darker the color. Strips on left have no lime in it and strips on the right have more lime.
Step 9: make sure the t-shirt is clean, wet the t-shirt and place into pot with simmering dye.
Step 10: after approximately 15 minutes remove the shirts from the pot and hang dry. When it dries you have a t-shirt dyed with Ma’ohauhele.
