***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
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@@ -58,7 +58,9 @@ Approx. 500 ml
1.**Preparation**
- 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).
- Weigh the ingredients
- Put the madder roots in water and let them soak for 24 hours before processing (also when using madder powder)
- 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.
1.**Extract the pigment with alum**
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@@ -96,6 +98,8 @@ Approx. 500 ml
- 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.
- madder can also used cold: liquidize the soaked roots, add 6% WoF calcium carbonate, add water and let it stand - covered - for 4-7 days. Stir occasionally. Then add mordanted fibre. See also: http://www.wildcolours.co.uk/html/madder_dye_nest_rubio.html
- add 6% WoF calcium carbonate (chalk) dissolved in a bit of hot water, instead of alum to draw out the pigment.
Processes for *pre-mordanting* textiles and fibres is discussed here. Simultaneous and post-mordanting is also possible, the latter is especially used to shift colors, using metal mordants (copper sulphate, and iron sulphate), but these are not discussed here.
**Physical form**
Pastes, gels & liquids
Mordants, tannins and binders to lock pigments to fibres, for more colorfast dyeing with natural dyes
**Fabrication time**
Preparation time: variable
Processing time: variable
Need attention: variable
Final form achieved after: a couple hours, up to a week
**Estimated cost (consumables)**
variable
##RECIPE
###Ingredients
***Ingredient - xx g** also: *alt name*
###Tools
1.**Big pan**, ideally stainless steel, that is *only* used for dyeing, not for cooking
1.**Precision scale**
1.**A spoon**, only used for dyeing, not for preparing food
1.**Household gloves**
1.**Tongs**, only used for dyeing, not for preparing food
###Yield
Varies
###Method
#### Scouring
Dissolve 10% WoF sodacarbonate (soda ash) in hot water. Add damp fibre and let it soak for a few hours, or heat it (max 80 Celcius for protein fibre)
#### Soaking
Some suggest to soak silk for 24h before the dye bath, and wool 30 mins before. I'm not sure if this is suggested for unmordanted fibre and mordanted fibres alike.
####Mordanting
**General rules of thumb:**
* use 3 L water per 100 g weight of dry fibre (WoF)
* preferably heat up the water slowly
* don't shock protein fibre, always rinse with warm water, never heat above 75 degrees celcius.
* Know that there are a lot of recipes, best is to start a collection where you make small tests you can compare (be sure to write everything down very precisely).
**steeping* (letting the fibre sit in the mordant bath overnight or longer) and *curing* (drying the mordanted fibre and leaving it alone for a few days before dyeing) allows the mordants to set, some recommend it.
* Use rainwater as much as possible
* You can reuse alum baths to save water and mordant. To recharge the bath, add 25-50% additional dissolved alum, or 1 additional teaspoon per 100 grams of fiber, stir and mordant as above. If you observe excessive cloudiness or large flakes floating in the bath, it is time to change it (after 5 times or so). The same probably works for the other mordants (not tested).
* Mordanted fibers may be stored damp in a plastic bag and refrigerated for 3-5 days and cured or aged, as this also seems to increase the depth of shade in the dyed fibers.
**Safety**
Keep dye tools and utensils separate from kitchen tools. Natural does not mean non-toxic! None of this is made for eating or drinking so keep it separate at all times. Alum may be safely disposed in a municipal water system by pouring down the drain.
##**PROTEIN FIBRES**
### Alum (hot)
10-15% WoF
Dissolve in hot water, add the fibre. Bring to 80 degrees Celcius and let simmer for an hour. Some suggest to steep overnight or even for 3-5 days in the mordant bath. Rinse before dyeing.
### Alum (cold)
10-15% WoF
Dissolve in hot water, add the fibre. Steep for 3-5 days inside the mordant bath, stir occassionally. Rinse before dyeing.
### Alum + Cream of Tartar (for wool)
Cream of Tarter (NL: Wijnsteenzuur) is said to keep wool shiny and soft and brightens the colors. Take your pick:
* 15-20% alum and 5% CoT (Cecilia Raspanti)
* 8% Alum and 5% CoT (Botanical Colors)
* 4/8/12% alum and 3/6/8% CoT (Roos Soetekauw)
Dissolve separately in hot water before adding to a pot. Enough water so the fibres can "swim". Heat slowly to 75 degrees Celcius, keep there for 30-60 minutes. Let steep overnight. Rinse before dyeing.
### Symplocos (for wool)
Bark of Lodrah (Symplocos Racemosa sold as *symplocos*) is a plant that is naturally high in alum. It is cultivated in Indonesia and other places.
20-50% WoF (Botanical Colors)
Boil the symplocos leaves for 30 minutes at 80 degrees Celcius or until they sink to the bottom of the pot. Let the pot cool to 40 degrees C.
Add the fibre and slowly bring pot back to 80 degrees C. Keep there for another 30-60 mins. Rinse the fibre with warm water, it should be slightly yellow now (this will disappear during dyeing).
### Soy milk (for silk)
In Japan silk is treated with soy milk (see protein recipe below for suggested process).
##**CELLULOSE FIBRES**
### Alum (hot)
10-15% WoF
Dissolve in hot water, add the fibre. Bring to 80 degrees Celcius and let simmer for an hour. Some suggest to steep overnight or even for 3-5 days in the mordant bath. Rinse before dyeing.
### Alum (cold)
10-15% WoF
Dissolve in hot water, add the fibre. Steep for 3-5 days inside the mordant bath, stir occassionally. Rinse before dyeing.
### Tannin | Alum
**Step 1: Tannin bath**
10% WoF Gallo-tannin or Tara powder
Dissolve in hot water, add fiber, let it sit for 1-2 hours (no need to heat). Do _**not**_ rinse (or do rinse, like Kim Eichler Messner). But do also try with heating and an overnight steep.
**Step 2: Alum bath**
10-15% WoF Alum
Dissolve separately in hot water, add together (will create bubbles). Add water and fibre. Boil for 1 hour, steep overnight. Rinse.
Some add 1.5% Soda ash to this bath (Roos Soetekauw, Kim Eichler Messner)
Tannins are for lightfastness. The tannin is not strongly attached to the fiber but adding alum bonds it into place. Oak galls (10%), myrobalan, tara powder (10%), sumac, pomegranate (10%), quebracho moreno, walnut hulls and cutch all are good tannins. But some also add color. Oak galls and tara powder are clear, light tannins.
### Alum + Soda | Soy milk
Treating fibre with alkaline bath and then high-protein bath allows pigment to attach to the fibre more easily. In a way the cellulose will behave more like protein. Milks arent mordants though: they don't chemically bind to the fibre). They are binders and will wash away eventually.
**Step 1: Alkaline bath**
2-3% alum | 2% soda
Dissolve each separately in hot water before combining into a mordant bath. Fibres should be able to "swim". Simmer for 1 hour, and let cool overnight. Rinse before the second bath. Some use fibres without the second bath.
**Step 2: Protein bath**
(soy) milk to water 1:1 - 1:10
Ratios soy milk to water vary: 1:1 - 1:5 - 1:10. One recipe mentions to add 1 tbsp of soda per 100 ml milk.
Generally: let the fibre soak in the milk mix for 8-24 hours. Squeeze it out, and let it dry. Then dip again (quick dip so you don't wash off the previous layer), squeeze out, let dry. Repeat again if you wish.
Then let the fabric cure for a week. **_Don't rinse_** it at any stage! This can be done with soy milk but also rice milk and cow's milk.
Also cow, goat and sheep's milk work. Or soaking acorns or almonds overnight and blending them can create a protein rich solution (Roos Soetekauw). Other protein baths are: gelatine, blood, yogurt.
### Tannin + Symplocos
**Step 1: Tannin bath**
10% WoF Gallo-tannin or Tara powder
Dissolve in hot water, add fiber, let soak for 1-2 hours (no need to heat)
**Step 2: Symplocos (alkaline) bath**
20-50% WoF Symplocos (Botanical Colors)
Boil the symplocos leaves for 30 minutes at 80 degrees Celcius until they sink to the bottom of the pot. Add the fibre and simmer for another 60 mins. Let it steep overnight. Rinse the fibre with warm water, it should be slightly yellow now (this will disappear during dyeing).
### Other mordants and tannins
Urine, egg white, blood, ashes, ammonia, chitin, mango bark, aloe vera leaves, cub moss (NL: wolfsklauw) and many more.
### Iron sulphate
Iron sulphate is the least polluting after alum and is a waste product. It should be mostly absorbed by the textile so the mordant baths can be discarded safely. But this is hard to say in home dyeing and one can wonder if it's desirable to wear textiles on the body that contain iron sulphate. Although some studies have shown that they are safe, one cannot tell when dyeing DIY. Better option is to invest in different cooking pot (a tin pot, copper pot, aluminium pot, castiron pot). Dyeing in these metal pots will give off a little bit of the metals to boost the dyes, but are all absorbed in the textile. Other heavy metal mordants are not recommended because they have larger ecological impacts.
###Process Pictures
###Variations
See above
##ORIGINS & REFERENCES
**Cultural origins of this recipe**
**Needs further research?** Not sure
###Key Sources
###Copyright information
##ETHICS & SUSTAINABILITY
**Sustainability tags**
- Renewable ingredients: yes (except alum)
- Vegan: yes
- Made of by-products or waste: no
- Biocompostable final product: yes
- Re-use: yes, mordant baths can be reused. For each next bath, add 25-50% of the original mordant to replenish the bath.
Needs further research?: Not sure
##PROPERTIES
-**Color fastness:** variable
-**Light fastness:** variable
-**Washability:** variable
-**Color modifiers:** N/A
-**Odor**: moderate
-**Suitable fibres**: see above
##ABOUT
**Maker(s) of this sample**
- Name: Loes Bogers
- Affiliation: Fabricademy student at Waag Textile Lab Amsterdam
Art and Science of Natural Dyes Principles, Experiments and Results , Joy Boutrup
Chitin - Another eco-friendly mordant for natural dyes, A. Poornima and A. Sharada Devi, August 2007, [link](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/295368867_Chitin_-_Another_eco-friendly_mordant_for_natural_dyes)
Dyeing of Wool Fabric Using Natural Dye and Natural Mordant Extracts, by Taame Berhanu Teklemedhin, 2018: [link](https://crimsonpublishers.com/tteft/fulltext/TTEFT.000593.php)
Extraction and Optimization of Natural Dye from Hambo Hambo (Cassia singueana) Plant Used for Coloration of Tanned Leather Materials, by Taame Berhanu and Saminathan Ratnapandian, 2017: [link](https://www.hindawi.com/journals/amse/2017/7516409/)
