Natural
Natural Dye Instructions
There are two different types of natural dyes: substantive and adjective. A substantive dye is one that will colour the fibre without the use of a mordant e.g. cochineal. The use of a mordant with a substantive dye extends their colour potential and increases their fastness.
An adjective dye requires the use of mordants to intensify colour and to make them permanent. The majority of natural dyes are adjective. It should be noted that all natural dyes can be used in the absence of mordants although wash, light and rub fastness are very low and colour potential is limited.
WHAT ARE MORDANTS ?
Mordants are metallic or mineral salts which, when added to the natural dye bath either enhance, intensify, or change the colour. They also play a large role in making the resulting shade faster to light and washing.
All mordants should be treated with care and common sense.
Dyers rarely agree on the quantities of mordant to be used. There are general guides though the best way for any dyer to find amount of mordant to be used is to conduct their own experiments.
PRE-MORDANTING
This is done before dyeing. It results in even dyeing and fibres are quite fast to light and washing. Pre-mordanting of all yarns with Alum is quite common. Copper Sulphate can also be used. Fibres can also be successfully stored wet or dry after mordanting. If wet, fibre can be kept for a period of about 6 weeks providing it is well ventilated to prevent mold. If storing dry, fibre can be stored indefinitely.
MORDANTS AS ADDITIVES
This is a process where you will be mordanting and dyeing at the same time, in the same dyebath. The benefit of this method is that the fibre is only processed once. This is ideal for fibres such as silk that deteriorate quickly in presence of strong chemicals. It is also good as it takes less time. One dye will yield several different shades or colours using this method. Keep careful records if ever you want to duplicate results.
USING A POT AS MORDANT
Aluminum, Iron, Copper, Tin and Brass pots will affect the colour of your dyebath. Instead of adding mordants, your pot simply replaces this need. This is a type of simultaneous dyeing. The dyeing procedure is the same, except you exclude mordants. Mordants can be added to pots, to give interesting results. This is generally only suitable for the dyer who does not want to control their colours.
FIBRES SUITABLE FOR DYEING
Wool is the easiest fibre to dye with natural dyes. Clean fleece or yarn is most easily dyed. Wool is most widely used for several reasons; it is relatively inexpensive, always available, diverse in use, easy to handle and takes the dye well. Resulting colours are fast to light and washing when used in conjunction with appropriate mordant.
Silk can also be dyed although the dyer must be very careful with the use of strong alkalis as these can 'eat' your silk. It is also important to note that silk cannot be dyed at high temperatures for long periods of time as this degrades the quality of the silk. Silk does take well to strong natural dyes e.g. cochineal, and when pre-mordanted, colours become much deeper.
Cotton and linen do not have the same affinity for natural dyes. They do not seem to 'take up' the dye as well. This could be because they are cellulose fibres unlike protein fibres of wool and silk. However they do take the stronger natural dyes well. For first attempts, dyeing of these fibres is not recommended. Results are harder to achieve, often resulting in uneven dyeing. Wash and colourfastness tends not to be as good either.
There are no rules for the dyeing of synthetic fibres. Most acrylics will take a natural dye, sometimes even brighter than its woollen counterpart. Nylons will dye though results will be paler. Processing at high temperatures cannot harm most synthetics, therefore repeated dyeing for stronger colours is not of concern. Like all things it is best to conduct tests. You will find some do not like the strong mordants e.g. ferrous sulphate / tin.
All fibres must be free of commercial sizing, oil or dirt. It is a good idea to wash all fibres in soap e.g. Lux or Synthrapol before dyeing.
Yarn is best dyed in a skein, tied in several places to avoid knots. It is also possible to dye woollen garments, or lengths of fabric, but is generally avoided, as it is almost impossible to achieve even dyeing.
DYES
POMEGRANATE (Punica granatum)
Pomegranate is a fruit that contains 25% natural tannin. In dyeing the rind of the fruit is most widely used.
Adjective dye - Will dye: cotton, wool, silk and nylon.
Polygenic*.
Produces yellowish \ brown shades.
Pre-mordant with alum for better pick-up. Colour generated- Brownish yellow
Post mordant with ferrous sulphate to produce shades from khaki to grey.
MYROBALAN (Terninalia chebula)
Myrobalan can be used as both a dye and as a mordant as it contains 90% natural tannin. It is an extract of a plant.
Adjective dye.
Will dye: cotton, wool, silk and nylon.
Polygenic*.
Produces shades from yellow to black.
Pre-mordant with alum for better pick-up. This produces light brown to fawn.
Post mordant with ferrous sulphate will produce darker shades.
KAMALA (Mellotus phillipensis)
Kamala is a plant extract.
Adjective dye.
Will dye: cotton, wool, silk nylon and polyester.
Polygenic*.
Produces shades from bright yellow to orange.
Needs to be dissolved in alkaline medium e.g. alum, as it is insoluble in water.
ALKANET ROOT (Alkana tinctoria)
Alkanet needs to be crushed and boiled to extract any colour.
Adjective dye.
Will dye: cotton, wool, silk nylon and polyester.
Polygenic*.
No mordant - grey / blue
Pre-mordant with Alum - purple
Post - mordant with Copper Sulphate - brown / purple
Post - mordant with Ferrous Sulphate - purple / black
Post - mordant with Tin - deep mauve
* Each different mordant used will produce varying colours and hues from the one dyebath.
COCHINEAL (Coccus lacca)
Cochineal is a substance that comes from bodies of insects, Dactylopius coccus, found on prickly pear cacti.
Needs to be crushed and boiled to extract colour.
Substantive dye.
Will dye: cotton, wool, silk, nylon and polyester.
Polygenic*.
Produces reds, pinks and purples.
No mordant - pinks / magentas
Ferrous sulphate - reds / oranges -- grey / purple / black
Copper sulphate - dusty purple
Ammonia after bath - purple
Tin - post mordant to brighten colour
CUTCH (Accacia catechu)
Extract from wood of tree. Contains 40-50%natural tannin, therefore can also be used as a mordant
Adjective dye
Will dye: cotton, wool, silk, nylon and polyester.
Polygenic*
Produces rusty red and brown shades
No mordant - rusty tan
Alum - rusty brown
Copper sulphate - brown
Ferrous sulphate - grey / brown
Tin - rusty gold
MADDER (Rubia cardiofolia)
Extract from root of tree.
Adjective dye.
Will dye: cotton, wool, silk, nylon and polyester.
Polygenic*.
Produces colours ranging from orange to black.
Need hard water (add a little powdered chalk).
It is essential in this dyeing procedure to keep dyebath below boiling point. If dyebath reaches boiling the root, yellow in colour, is released which creates dull yellow browns.
Pre-mordanted with alum - deep orange
Pre-mordanted with tin and cream of tartar - orange
Pre-mordanted with alum / cream of tartar, addition of tin - scarlet
Ferrous sulphate will produce near black, or dark brown
Copper sulphate - dark tan
* Each different mordant used will produce varying colours and hues from the one dyebath.
TUMERIC
Adjective dye - Will dye: cotton, wool, silk
Materials;
one ounce ground tumeric
a gallon of water
one gallon plus dyeing pot
Directions:
#1 Boil the water and tumeric to extract dye and let it sit over night. It will be a greenish/yellow color with bits of dye plant floating about it. You can re-heat and add the skeins directly to the mixture. This will produce the best color. It produces a very rich orangey/gold on wool.
OR
#2 Let the dye sit over night and strain it through a cloth-lined sieve to catch the dye stuff... Its a very powerful dye - add several skeins of wool .Gives a rich deep gold color. Skeins dyed in the afterbath are increasingly lighter gold with touches of green.
COLOUR PROBABILITIES FOR NATURAL DYES
|
|
No mordant |
Alum |
Copper sulphate |
Ferrous sulphate |
Tin |
|
ALKANET |
Grey/blue |
Purple |
Brown/purple |
Purple/black |
Deep mauve |
|
CUTCH |
Rusty tan |
Rusty brown |
Brown |
Grey/brown |
Rusty gold |
|
HENNA |
Brown |
Brown |
Khaki brown |
Dark brown |
Red brown |
|
MADDER |
Pink tan |
Deep orange |
Dark tan |
Brown |
Orange |
|
INDIGO |
Blue |
- | - | - | - |
|
COCHINEAL |
Pinks/magentas |
Crimson |
Dusty purple |
Grey/purple |
Red |
|
POMEGRANATE |
|
Yellow/brownish |
|
Khaki/grey |
|
|
TUMERIC |
Yellow |
Golden yellow |
|
|
|
|
KAMALA |
|
Yellow |
Orange |
|
|
|
MYROBALAN |
|
Light brown |
|
Brown/black |
|
INDIGO (Indigofera tinctoria)
Natural indigo is extracted from a plant.
(Synthetic indigo is man made, & is used in exactly the same way & gives exactly the same results...)
Indigo is insoluble in water and by itself cannot be used successfully. Due to the high alkalinity of the indigo dye pot, wool and silk must be handled with extreme care. Both should be dyed in a low alkaline bath and neutralized soon after oxidation.
The only way fabric can be dyed with indigo is through chemical reactions in the dye pot. There are quite a few indigo recipes - this is a simple recipe...
For a 10 litre vat you need...
100g Indigo (natural or synthetic)
50g caustic soda
80g sodium hydrosulphite
10 litre warm water
Method.
1. dissolve 50g caustic soda by sprinkling into 200mls of cold water. Stir carefully. This will get hot.
2. paste 100g indigo with a small amount of this caustic soda solution. When dissolved, add to 800ml of boiling water, and then add remaining caustic soda solution.
3. sprinkle 80g sodium hydrosulphite onto the indigo/caustic solution
4. let stand for 20 minutes. Maintaining the temperature between 70 - 80 C (wrap in towels to help this)
5. add to the water. DO NOT pour through the air and into the water, but submerge the indigo solution container into the water slowly and carefully. Allow the indigo to mix with the water.
NB. oxygen is the enemy of an indigo vat, but the only way the dye will develop on your fabric.
Dyeing.
1. the cloth to be dyed should be wetted out first and then slowly immersed into the indigo without agitation.
2. the depth of shade depends largely on the immersion time. Approx 15 minutes produces the deepest shade.
3. remove the cloth from the vat carefully. DO NOT allow any liquid to drip back into the indigo as this will introduce oxygen.
4. hang the cloth for 10 - 15 minutes. It will start changing colour from green to dark blue as the oxygen reacts with it. Rinse well.
5. if you require a deeper shade, you can repeat the dipping.
6. the vat remains good for a period of 2-3 days providing the crust that forms on the surface is not disturbed and it is kept warm
7. wash the cloth well in hot soapy water. Rinse well. Silk and wool should then be treated with some vinegar in the final rinse to restore their pH.
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