[ work & 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 !
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“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."
[ 繪畫 & 故事分享 _ 申賢真 ]
我在家裡有種植且最喜歡的一種植物叫做 bongsunhwa /鳳仙花。過去的韓國女性會用它來染手指或替代化妝品。紅色染料也被認為保護女孩免受惡靈傷害。另一個有趣的傳說，如果你的手指一直染色到冬天下來的第一場雪，你的初戀就會成真，哈哈。
當我越了解這種植物時，實際上反而會從葉子提煉出更多顏色。我發現其中樂趣後，經常利用空閒時間玩個染指，也能和朋友享受放鬆和愉悅的時光。或是，當工作室有特別客人來拜訪時，也會邀請他們一起體驗這個趣事。植物對我有很多個人意義。
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
Seeding Future 