[ Story sharing _ from Aletheia Hyun-Jin Shin ]

Here’s a plant story shared by Aletheia, I love the playful way of using plants in daily life and the beautiful color it shows on nails ! 

This is one of my favorite plants I’ve been growing and been fascinated by. Its called bongsunhwa, balsam flower. In the past in Korea, women used it to dye their finger or use it as alternative make up. The red color dye was also believed to protect you from evil spirits, so those are some stories related to this plant.

Another fun myth is that if you keep your fingers dyed till the first snow in the winter, your first love comes true haha. But as I learned about the plant, you actually extract more colors form the leaves rather than the flower. Which I found interesting.My collective members and I often dye our fingers together with this on our down time. Its been a way to relax together and just enjoy time. We also do it when we have special guest join us, just because its something fun to do together. So the plant has a lot of personal meaning to me.

Photo courtesy of Aletheia Hyun-Jin Shin

Find more plants for natural dye in your garden:
https://www.littleyellowwheelbarrow.com/natural-dye-from-flowers

More about Aletheia’s collective: Rice Brewing Sisters Club