Libby Scott is a fibre artist based in the Huon Valley of Tasmania. Her ethical and sustainable eco dyeing practice explores the gentle creation of plant colour and botanical prints on natural fibre cloth. Working primarily with locally foraged eucalypt leaves, bark and flowers, the botanical colours and prints are achieved by the steaming and immersion alchemy within the dye pot.

Libby’s practice shuns all synthetic dyes, chemicals and plastic in favour of a slow dye bath withn rusted iron and copper modifiers to extract unique colours and botanical prints on a range of natural fibres.

Libby has always had an affiliation with natural fibre fabrics and a love for plants, especially the medicinal qualities. It is no surprise that this love of plants, together with her creativity progressed to extracting the beautiful dye colours. She fondly remembers spending time in the garden with her grandmother collecting nasturtium and sweet pea seeds to replant or taking cuttings from the spider plant to put in water to grow her own plants. Her mother was a talented seamstress who gave her fabric offcuts to make dolls clothes and there was always a plentiful supply of craft materials in the house for all creative pursuits.

Libby is largely self-taught and continues to refine her techniques and experiment with more natural dye plant colours. The joy of unbundling the dyed pieces never fades; it’s a magical surprise as the foliage releases its beautiful story.