The women – Kitty, Mother Molly, sister Dorothy, Grandmother Mercia and Marrfurra – sit in the grass stripping the palm leaves. The preparation of dyes begins with the grinding of roots which are first washed, scraped and then pounded with a rock. Everything is put into a billycan and placed on a fire. The women explain that they must be careful when putting the fibre into the billycan so that the fire does not burn it. The fibres are boiled in the billycans and coloured by the dye.