Scarves, pareus and other garments from Hana Lima Hand Dyes may be the closest we’ll come to having fanciful gossamer wings whilst on this earth.

Artisan Kathy Lukens of Hawaii island hand-dyes fabrics using techniques learned at dyeing club gatherings with her friends. She uses various types of dyes, including some she makes from locally gathered leaves.

Some of her scarves are made from fabric created using the devore, or burn-out, method. She buys white fabric with a silk background and a rayon design.

“About 10 years ago my dyeing group learned about a new kind of dye put out in France that can dye both silk and rayon” at the same time, she said. “You put two … dyes in the pan at one time, and one (color) goes to the rayon and one goes to the silk.”

Magic.

The group liked it so much that a member’s husband, who would travel to France for business, was given a dye-shopping list before each trip. Later the group persuaded a company in California to import the dye to make it more widely available and less of an imposition to the long-suffering husband.

Lukens colors some of her scarves with sustainable dye she makes from 100 percent locally sourced leaves from “coffee trees, naupaka, African tulip, gardenia, plumeria, locally grown indigo, hibiscus and lots more,” she said. “The colors are much more subdued, but never the same and often a surprise.”

Lukens uses indigo and other dyes to create her “arashi shibori” items. Shibori is a traditional Japanese tie-dyeing process that typically is bumpy-textured given the almost pinpoint tying used to create the effect in fabrics. Arashi shibori involves wrapping fabric around a pole prior to immersing it in various dyes. Lukens creates a cross-hatch design using the method.

A fixture at the Made in Hawaii Festival and the Mission Houses Museum holiday craft fair in recent years, Lukens has added this month’s Season’s Best Craft Fair at the Neal Blaisdell Center to her Oahu craft fair jaunts and plans to return to all three events in years to come.

Not everyone wears scarves and Lukens knows that, but customers tell her other ways they do get used— as table runners, for instance. One of her wholesale customers uses the scarves in retail jewelry displays.

Lukens will be bringing new merchandise to sell on Oahu at her next two events, including rayon tops “that really flatter anyone,” as well as leggings and “super-soft” socks made from sustainable bamboo fibers.

The way she dyes the blouses is literally way cool. She uses ice in the process.

“To ice-dye, I cover the shirt in (ice) cubes and sprinkle dye powder on top,” she said. “As the ice melts, the dye reaches the shirt and makes patterns as it migrates through the fabric.”

Again, magic.

The blouses are machine-washable, can go in the dryer and will be offered in sizes small to extra large.

At the craft fairs Lukens will be selling her hand-dyed items for prices ranging from $10 for socks to $60 and higher for the pareus. Retail prices for her products might vary.

Aside from hearing feedback from customers about how much someone loved a scarf they received as a gift, creating the colors is “the most rewarding thing,” Lukens said. “I do find, when I make colors that I don’t like, sometimes they’re the first to go.” That taught her to offer a “big variety” to customers.

Lukens, a retired information systems professional, enjoys creating colors and dyeing fabrics to create fanciful and affordable luxuries to be worn or otherwise used by her customers.

Her hobby went larger than she imagined it would. “But,” she said, “it’s a reason to get up and have fun every day.”