Introduction
The sky is the limit - you can basically use almost anything.
There are three groups of materials with their respective advantages and disadvantges. How to dye the materials will be covered in a seperate section to keep this short and neat.
dyeing information properties of the material, tactile experience tips
food stuff
- + cheap
- + easy to get
- + usually easy to dye
- + compostable
- + some edible
- - ethical concerns because food is made for eating (however most are good to use forever - if stored in an airtight container, and you could use expired goods)
- Pasta
- easy to dye
- rough to smooth
- Beans
- dyeable
- smooth and cool
- Chicken peas
- easy to dye
- slightly rough and warm
- Corn
- dyeable
- smooth with pointy end, quite heavy, cool
- Rice
- easy to dye
- easy to rill, slightly rough, sometimes pointy
- Grain (spelt, oat, ...)
- dyeable
- slightly rough, sometimes pointy
- Oatflakes
- dyeable
- slightly rough, very lightweight
- Semolina, Couscous, Polenta
- easy to rill, slightly rough, quite heavy
- Salt
- dyeable
- easy to rill, rough and can stick to hands, because it's hygroscope
- Tapioka
- limitedly dyeable
- wet, a little bit sticky, soft
- Water
- dyeable
- Whipped cream
- dyeable
- wet, soft, smooth
Natural materials
- + available everywhere
- + cheap
- + compostable
- - some with limited shelf life
- Chestnuts, acorns, hazelnuts, walnuts
- smooth and cool
- Wood (twigs, slices)
- rough to smooth and warm
- Spruce cone, beechnut
- rough and warm
- Leaves
- smooth and cool, sometimes rough
- Grass and moss
- smooth and soft and cool
- Earth
- slightly wet, soft to rough
- Stones and gravel
- cold and smooth to slightly rough
- Sand
- dyeable
- easy to rill, rough
- Shells
- cool and smooth
- Straw
- smooth to pointy, warm
- cherry stone
- can be made warm
- quite smooth, lukewarm
- Feathers
- leicht, weich und flauschig
- Schnee und Eis(Würfel)
- kalt, feucht, weich oder glatt
Non-food
- + some recycled materials
- + some can be reused
- + mostly unlimited shelflife
- + some very cheap
- - many non-compostable
- - some are hard to come by or expensive
- (Wooden) Beads
- smooth and warm
- Buttons
- can be used for threading activities
- Wooden cubes / small blocks
- easy to dye
- can be used for building
- Wool, threads, fabric scraps, cotton wool
- soft and warm
- Paper, scraps of paper
- lightweight and warm
- Packaging material (styrofoam)
- lightweight and slightly rough
- Water beads
- dyeable
- wet, smooth and cool
- there are various sizes
- Glassnuggets, marbles
- smooth and cool
- Pompoms
- smooth and warm
- Bird sand
- easy to rill, slightly rough
- Kinetic sand
- you can make your own or buy it
- rough, slightly wet
- Straws (in pieces or whole)
- smooth and warm
- Lego
- cool and smooth
- Pearler beads
- can be used for threading activities or to make patterns
- Colored gravel
- slightly rough
- Instant snow
- slightly wet and smooth
- you can cool it in the fridge
- Shaving foam
- dyeable
- wett, smooth, soft