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*Madder dye on silk, Loes Bogers, 2020*
Madder dye (can also be used as a water based ink) produces bright red to orange brownish colors on silk. One of the few natural dyes that can provide such bright red hues.
Processing time: for dying is variable (overnight for intense red on silk)
Need attention: the entire processing time (temperature and stirring)
* **madder roots (dried) - 50 g** also: Rubia Tinctorum, this is the dye stuff
* **water - 500 ml/g** solvent
* **alum - 30 g** (also: potassium aluminium sulphate) will draw the pigment out of the madder root.
* **soda ash - 5 g** to create bright reds
* **a coffee filter** to filter the fine particles from the dye
* optional: 100% pure silk, or aquarel/water colors paper and a paint brush to test the dye/ink
1. **A spoon**
1. **A cheese cloth or coffee filter**
1. **A thermometer** (if your cooker doesn't have temperature control)
1. **A strainer**
1. **A glass jar** to store the dye
1. Optional: a blender or mortar and pestle
- Weigh the ingredients (and, optional: grind the madder root into a powder using a blender. By making the dye stuff smaller, you create more surface, which makes it easier to pull the pigments out of the madder root).
- Bring 600 ml of water to the boil, add the alum and stir to dissolve. Bring the water down to 70 degrees celcius. Use a thermometer and make sure it doesn't exceed 70 degrees throughout the entire cooking process (the madder pigment will turn dull and brown).
- Add the ground madder roots and simmer at 70 degrees for 60 minutes.
- Strain the liquid into a bowl (keep the madder roots)
- Put the dye back into the pot, and add the soda ash (it will froth a little), stir and continue to simmer for 10-15 minutes. This is the dye for bright reds.
- Filter the liquid through a cheesecloth or coffee filter to filter out the solid bits. This may take a while.
- Optional: you can keep the madder roots for a second filtration with alum solution. It won't be as intense but you will continue to get color from it albeit a bit lighter. If it holds no more color, add vinegar or another acid to modify the color of the dye from the second filtration to orange and yellow colors.
- Use a funnel to transfer your dye into a glass jar.
- Use the warm dye immediately by adding a piece of wet silk or other (mordanted fibre) to it and leave overnight. Don't put silk in hot water, it damages the fibre. Then rinse and dry the silk.
- You can also use it as an ink (hot or cold). Use fine chinese brushes and aquarel/water colors paper.
- To store: add a clove and store in the fridge or freeze. If it smells weird or grows fungus, throw it away and make new ink.
- Using the dye at a later stage: warm up the dye by putting the glass jar au bain marie (put it in a larger pot with boiling water). Slowly heat it up until warm, not hot. Add (mordanted) fibres such as silk, leave overnight for deep hues.
- Rinse and dry
*After the first extraction, Loes Bogers, 2020*
*Add a pinch of soda ash, Loes Bogers, 2020*
*Froth after adding soda ash, Loes Bogers, 2020*
- You can extract pigment (insoluble particles) for paints by adding a 10% carbonate soda solution (25g of soda ash on 250g hot water). Add only little bits because it froths a lot. Let it precipitate and filter it through a fine cloth. Dry the solids and add a binder to create paints. See also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YVO2Dr8gD8.
- Add a binder such as arabic gum to create a nicer flow if you wish to use this ink for painting and arts, not dyeing textiles.
Before synthetic dyes were discovered in 1856, you would have had to use natural dyes which were made from animals and plants. The most common - and intense - being madder, red, and indigo, blue. Madder came from the roots of 35 species of plants (Rubia Tinctorum) found in Southern Europe and West-Asia. It has been found in the cloth of mummies and was the first dye to be used as camouflage. Madder was brought to the south of the Netherlands and Flanders around 1300 where the soil was optimal for madder cultivation. This led to a thriving local industry for madder production, until *garancine* the synthetic counterpart for alizerine was discovered and gained in popularity around 1870. The agricultural industry of madder plants has started growing again in Belgium and the Netherlands in recent years as the textile and fashion industry started rediscovering its potential as a natural pigment for textile dyeing.
- **Genuine Madder Lake Pigment Extraction** by Jeremy Francis, The Alchemical Arts, Youtube, 13 August 2019, [link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YVO2Dr8gD8).
- **Madder - Biochromes** by Cecilia Raspanti for Fabricademy 2019-2020, Class slides [link](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ar8j0cJntsFiBxdnrhqTA_9lgDDzB1Wg/view?usp=sharing)
Compared to red pigments coming from the synthetic garancine, madder is less ecologically taxing. It doesn't require the sulphuric acid was used in the synthetic product. The plant can easily be multiplied and can be harvested after 2-3 years but is deemed rather labour intensive (require a fair amount of weeding and fertilizing). The roots need to be dried, which happens naturallly in sun light in warme climates. Heat needs to be generated in cold areas such as northern Europe. In comparison to commercial synthetic dyes, it is surely an improvement.
Intense colors can be considered a thing of great luxury. To create very concentrated inks and dyes, one needs a lot of dye stuff and additional compounds like alum and soda for intensification. Although sulphuric acids are left out of this recipe, could and should we not consider deep, concentrated dyes as a thing of luxury, not necessity? How might beauty be found in more subtle hues? Could we consider limiting ourselves to pigments extracted from e.g. food waste like avocado stones, onion skins or leftover red cabbage?
Needs further research: Madder traveling from other parts of Europe and Asia to Northern Europe is possibly tied to practices of colonization and/or warfare.
- Biocompostable final product: needs further research
- Re-use: the madder roots can be filtered more times than once (results in oranges and yellows)
How often can this dye be reused? Overview of colors from second, third, fourth(?) extraction would be useful.
This dye gives a bright red on silk. And pink/salmon tones on paper.
- **Color fastness:** medium
- **Light fastness:** medium
- **Washability:** medium
- **Color modifiers:** alkaline/acidic/copper/iron
- **Odor**: moderate
- Name: Loes Bogers
- Affiliation: Fabricademy student at Waag Textile Lab Amsterdam
- Location: Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- Date: 20-02-2020 - 22-02-2020
- Outside temp: 5-11 degrees Celcius
- Room temp: 18 – 22 degrees Celcius
- PH tap water: 7-8
### Recipe validation
## Copyright information
### This recipe is in the public domain (CC0)
Yes
### This recipe was previously published by someone else
Yes, this is an adaptation of the recipes listed in the references but there are many very similar recipes out there.
- **Genuine Madder Lake Pigment Extraction** by Jeremy Francis, The Alchemical Arts, Youtube, 13 August 2019, [link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YVO2Dr8gD8).
- **Madder - Biochromes** by Cecilia Raspanti for Fabricademy 2019-2020, Class slides [link](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ar8j0cJntsFiBxdnrhqTA_9lgDDzB1Wg/view?usp=sharing)
- **Meekrap**, Dutch page for "madder" on Wikipedia, n.d. [link](https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meekrap)
- **Meekrap**, by Jan Zwemer for Zeeuwse Ankers, n.d. [link] (https://www.zeeuwseankers.nl//app/uploads/2018/07/Meekrapteelt-en-bewerking.pdf)
- **A brief history of natural dyes**, by James P. Bernard for First Source Worldwide, 14 November 2017, [link](http://www.fsw.cc/NATURAL-DYES-HISTORY/)
*Madder dye on silk, Loes Bogers, 2020*
*Madder dye on silk, modified with soda solution (PH 13), Loes Bogers, 2020*
*Madder dye on paper, Loes Bogers, 2020*