Making Natural Dyes

Making Natural Dyes From Plants

Gathering plant material for dyeing: Blossoms should be in full bloom, berries ripe and nuts mature. Remember, never gather more than 2/3 of a stand of anything in the wild when gathering plant stuff for dying.

To make the dye solution: Chop plant material into small pieces and place in a pot. Double the amount of water to plant material. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about an hour. Strain. Now you can add your fabric to be dyed. For a stronger shade, allow material to soak in the dye overnight.

Getting the fabric ready for the dye bath: You will have to soak the fabric in a color fixative before the dye process. This will make the color set in the fabric.

Color Fixatives:

• Salt Fixative (for berry dyes) 1/2 cup salt to 8 cups cold water
• Plant Fixatives (for plant dyes) 4 parts cold water to 1 part vinegar

Add fabric to the fixative and simmer for an hour. Rinse the material and squeeze out excess. Rinse in cool water until water runs clear.

Dye Bath: Place wet fabric in dye bath. Simmer together until desired color is obtained. The color of the fabric will be lighter when its dry. Also note that all dyed fabric should be laundered in cold water and separately. Muslin, silk, cotton and wool work best for natural dyes and the lighter the fabric in color, the better. White or pastel colors work the best.

NOTE: It's best to use an old large pot as your dye vessel. Wear rubber gloves to handle the fabric that has been dyed, the dye can stain your hands. It's also important to note, some plant dyes may be toxic, check with the Poison Control Center if unsure.

Logwood Dyes

Logwood is the English name of both the dye and the tree from whose heartwood the dye comes. To prepare the best dyestuff from the tree requires that the heartwood first be well cleaned of the surrounding sapwood and bark. Then it must be rasped or planed into shavings, which are "aged" through a mild fermentation process. Then this rich, dark wood is dried and packaged to avoid deterioration by moisture. The actual dye from logwood is hematoxylin, a complex phenolic compound similar to the flavonoid pigments of flowers. The chemical structure of hematoxylin is practically identical with the dye brazilin from brazilwood, except that hematoxylin has one additional atom of oxygen. Hematoxylin is extracted by boiling chips or raspings of logwood in water. By exposure to the air the orange-red crystals of hematoxylin are gradually oxidized to metallic green crystals of another popular dye called hematein. The presence of a considerable amount of tannin in the purplish-red dye bath allows the logwood extract to react with iron salts to give a permanent black color.

Types of Logwoods:

• The red dyes recorded from the Middle Ages was from the heartwood of the Sappanwood tree (Caesalpinia sappan). Sappanwood is native to India, Malaya and Sri Lanka, and is cultivated throughout the Asian tropics. The wood was imported into Europe since medieval times, but only in limited quantities. The dye was a beautiful red, the color of burning coals (in Old French and English "braise") and was called bresil or brasil by the early Portuguese traders.
• In 1500, Portuguese ships discovered and claimed the Atlantic side of South America that straddled the equator and the tropic of Capricorn. This massive land was called "Terra de Brasil" and later Brazil, because of the "Brazilwood trees" (Caesalpinia echinata) that grew there in abundance. Like the closely related sappanwood, the valuable dye from "Brazilwood" (called brazilin) became a popular coloring agent for cotton, woolen cloth and red ink.
• Later the wood of Haematoxylum campechianum was used in traditional fabric dyeing. A range of possible colors can be produced by the "Bloodwood tree" (also known as spiny tree and logwood) including blue, purple, dusty purple and reddish purple. Haematoxylum campechianum is also known as "Uitzquauitl" in Nahuatl Aztec and "Huitzcuahuitl" in Nahuatl Aztec.
• "Spiny tree" was used by the Aztecs for dyeing. It is used in dyeing wool. When dyeing with this plant, alum is used as a mordant to fix the color to the fabric.
• Another lesser-known Mexican species of logwood is called "Palo de brasil" or "Palo de tinto" (Haematoxylum brasiletto). It has a remarkable distribution from desert hillsides and arroyos of Sonora and Chihuahua, extending south through tropical dry forests of Oaxaca, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Colombia. The deeply fluted, corrugated trunk of Mexican logwood or palo de brasil (Haematoxylum brasiletto) is similar to Belize logwood. The heartwood of palo de brasil is equally as valuable as logwood, and has been exported in large quantities from the west coast of Mexico. It has also been used locally as a dye for cottons and wool, and as a pink coloring for various pharmaceuticals including toothpastes and mouthwashes. Palo de brasil was well known to the Aztecs and was also a prominent dye in Maya weaving. The Tarahumara Indians of northwest Mexico have never stopped using palo de brasil. The baton of their leader, the gobernador, is made of the wood and the extract is used to dye woolen threads for the sashes worn by every Tarahumara man.

Basic Dyeing Instructions - To prepare a good dye from the logwood shavings, it must be soaked overnight and then boiled vigorously about 30 minutes. The liquid is then strained out; this is the dyebath. More water can be added to the wood, as further boiling will extract more dye. Logwood requires a mordant to develop the color and fix the dye.

• With tin mordant the color is hues in the reddish violet to true purple range.
• With alum mordant the color is purple to blue purple.
• With chrome the color is blue toned charcoal.
• With iron the color is gray to black, usually with a decided blue cast.
• With cream of tarter mordant the color is bright, clear hue of purple.

Advanced Dye Issues - The molecule that makes up the Logwood dye exists in three different forms, depending on how much oxygen has been incorporated into it.

• The unoxidized form is useless as dye, unless either the mordant or the dye process adds oxygen.
• Oxidized by fermenting the wood - soaking it to "air" it and add oxygen.
• Over-oxidized logwood is of limited usefulness, giving dull, grayed purples, however it works well for black: black baths keep and get stronger with age, but purple baths generally go gray after a few days of storage.

Logwood is an "indicator" color, one that changes with the pH of the solution. Thus adding either acid or alkali to the dyebath can modify the hue obtained. Too much acid will actually cause the dye to "disappear". Just enough will give redder tones, while alkalis like chalk or bases like ammonia will turn the tone more blue.

Because the iron-Logwood combination has such a pronouncedly blue tone, iron-Logwood can be used to turn yellows and golds into lovely soft greens. Compounding mordants by adding tin or alum in with the iron gives very fashionable lavender grays.

How To Use Natural Dyes

by Cheryl Kolander. Excerpted from HEMP! for Textile Artists, 1995. Modified March 2003.

This tutorial explains how to dye any fiber material (yarn, fiber, thread, fabric, etc) with natural dyes.

Principles of Natural Dyeing

1. Most natural dyes need both a plant extract and a mineral mordant to make a permanent colour.
2. The stronger the dye extract the more plant used the deeper the colour.
3. Mineral (metal salt) mordants are always used in the same proportion. One can use less for a pale colour, but never use more, as too much metal can harm the fibre.
4. All recipes are given as proprtions. Typically, amounts are for 1 pound of fiber. If you are dyeing more, increase the amounts, proportionally; if less, decrease, always proportionally. i.e. if you are dyeing 1/2 lb, use only 1/2 the recipe amount.
5. Higher temperature means less time needed for dyeing, as does higher concentration of dyestuff. Some textiles may be heat or chemical sensitive - know your materials you are working with!
6. Prepare your textile material for the rigours of the dyebath:
   • Put Fibres in a Mesh Bag;
   • Tie Yarns in Skeins, using thin yarn ties;
   • Pre-wash Fabric or garments to remove any sizing.

   Be patient - Work time is not that much, but processing time can take several days.

   Equipment and Materials

   Use big pots with plenty of room for the material to move freely. Otherwise the colour will dye very unevenly. You can use aluminum and iron pans only if your recipes include completely non-toxic dyestuffs and using alum and iron for mordants. Most dye work can be done in plastic buckets with the cold soak method (except the dye extraction itself). Stainless steel or unchipped enamel are recommended. Aluminum pots will take more scrubbing to clean, and may stain permanently with dark dyes. Iron darkens colours, so iron pots should be used only with recipes that call for iron. If other mordants are used, use a stainless steel or pyrex pot dedicated only to dyework because there will always be residue and you wouldn't want to eat from these pots.

   Step 1 - Preparing material and dye

   Mordanting your fiber material:

   • Weigh your textile material. All recipes are proportional, just as in cooking.
   • If choosing to use:
     • Alum - divide the weight of the material to dye by four. Weight out that much alum mordant. A scant two tablespoons equals one ounce of alum. Add the alum to the pot, and almost fill with warm water. Leave enough room to add the wet textile material. Stir until fully dissolved.
     • Other Mordants - use ½ oz (two teaspoons) per pound fiber for tin, chrome, iron and copper.
   • Wet out the textile in warm water.
   • Add the wet textile. Gently stir so that it is opened out in the solution.
   • HEAT until the pot is hot, stirring occasionally for evenness of colour.
   • Keep it HOT for about 1 hour. (180 - 200 degrees F)
   • Let cool overnight.

   Alternative: begin with hot tap water. Put with your mordant in a plastic bucket and let it soak 3 to 5 days. (Lower temperature = more time). Silk is ready after soaking overnight. Tin, chrome and copper need to be heated to mordant well. Iron can be done cold.

   Meanwhile, extract the dye:

   • Boil your chosen dye material in plenty of water, (enough to loosely cover by several extra inches,):
     • FLOWERS - boil 20 minutes; strain off the water to make the dyebath.
     • BARKS, ROOTS, DYEWOODS - soak overnight, boil 1/2 hour, pour off and save the extract (this is the dye solution), add more water and boil again. Do this boiling and saving three times to make the dyebath. -or more times, as long as dye continues to extract.
     • COCHINEAL - if ground, boil 20 minutes; if whole, proceed as for barks.

   Step 2 - Dyeing

   • Add enough additional water to the dye solution so the textile can move freely in the dyebath.
   • Add the textile and heat to hot. Heat 1 hour or until the colour is the desired depth. Remember, the colour will lighten after it is rinsed and dried.
   • If the colour is too light, use more dyestuff. (But do not use more mordant.)
   • Cool the textile, rinse and dry. Handle the fibre according to its form:
     • Fibre should be gently swooshed in several changes of water, squeezed out and removed from its mesh bag only after it is partly dry. Then pull it gently to smooth and groom the roving.
     • Yarn should be rinsed with an up and down motion to help remove tangles and smooth it. Wring thoroughly. Shake out and twist it while drying, to soften.
     • Fabric can be run thru a wash cycle, without soap, in a machine; then tumbled dry to soften.

   Adjusting the Color

   Modifying Colours:

   Modify the colour, if desired, with the addition of a different mordant in order to change hues or tones of your primary color (See Mordant Chart). If you chose to use iron mordant then dissolve about 1 tablespoon of ferrous sulphate per pound textile. Fill a bucket with warm water, add the iron and transfer the textile to this "after mordant" bath. This is an important technique to know, for iron will turn golds to moss greens, reds to plum and maroon colours, and will darken browns. Many leaves and plants will make grey with iron as the only mordant needed.

   Color Additives

   Color Additives are Cosmetic Ingredients regulated by the FDA. It assures that color additives are safe for use on humans and contain no heavy metals, like Lead, Cadmium and Hexavalent Chromium. These are the color additives FDA approved for use: Drug and Cosmetic, or D&C, for use on the body and the Food, Drug and Cosmetic, FD&C, also approved for consumption. Certain Oxides, Ultramarines and Pearlescents are also approved for use.

   • Note that these are all synthetic. There are few approved "natural" colors permitted on the market such as Annatto Seed. There is no such thing as a "natural" color additive available.
   • Unless specifically approved, all natural color additives are banned by the FDA. The current FDA Summary can be viewed at: http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/opa-col2.html
   • Cosmetic grade color additives fall into 2 broad categories: Organics and Inorganics which can be Dyes or Pigments. From there, they branch off into subcategories.

   Organics

   Organics are termed "Clean" colors or true brights and consist of the following categories:

   • Dyes - Dyes can be water soluble or oil soluble. There only a few oil soluble dyes available for cosmetic usage. Some water soluble dyes may present problems with "bleeding" if used in too high a concentration in your product. In transparent products, (such as Melt and Pour or Gels), dyes give a transparent color like food coloring.
   • Pigments - Pigments can be Organic or Inorganic. These are both water and oil insoluble and therefore do not dissolve but can be microscopically dispersed so they appear to be dissolved. Only dyes are soluble in a vehicle while pigments are insoluble compounds. Think of the difference between instant coffe and hot chocolate powder. The coffee dissolves but the powder is only dispersed and will fall to the bottom of your cup.
   • Nacreous Pigment - Nacreous (Nay-kree-us) are also known as Pearlescent Pigments, (mica). These may be composed of combinations of titanium dioxide and mica, bismuth oxychloride or guanine.
   • Bismuth Oxychloride is a soft metal and is the "frost" in nailpolish.
   • Guanine is derived from herring scales. Its primary use in the cosmetics industry is in nail polishes.
   • Various organics and inorganic pigments may be combined with the titanated micas to create unique dual color pearls.
   • Lakes Lakes are Inorganic pigments and do not usually bleed or leach color. There are 4 types of Lakes:
   1. Calcium Salt
   2. Barium Salt
   3. Aluminum Salt
   4. Sodium Salt

   The color from the dye is placed onto one of these salts as an insoluble base to hold the color. The salt to be used is determined by the color desired as the salts impact on the resulting tone. Some Lakes are also Rosinated. Rosin is derived from tree sap and gives a blue tone to reds.

   Inorganics:

   Inorganics are termed "Dirty" colors as they will never result in a true clean bright color, but don't misunderstand you can achieve gorgeous earthy tones with Inorganics. Here are the categories:

   • Oxides - Oxides have been referred to as the "natural" pigments. However they are in fact synthetically manufactured. This "myth" could be attributed to the misconception that they are obtained from rust or mineral sources they are not. For example, chrome oxide green does not occur anywhere in nature. It may also be that their tone is more earthy than the D&C and FD&C dyes and pigments. It may also be because they fall into the Inorganic category. There are three oxide values
   1. FEO
   2. FE203
   3. FE304

   The red oxide gives a russet value, the black oxide a black value and the yellow an ochre value.

   • Ferric Ammonium Ferrocyanide - This is not in any way related to the poison cyanide but contains this term as it is a triple bond carbon-nitrogen group.
   • It is more commonly known as Iron Blue or Prussian Blue.
   • It is not stable in an alkaline solution so it fades out in soap.
   • Most pearlescents that are of a blue or purple tone contain this.
   • Not allowed for use in lip products.
   • Manganese Violet
   • Unstable in alkaline media. Do not use in soap!
   • Gives a deep purple to mauve tone in acid media such as lotions.
   • Not for use in lip products!
   • Ultramarines - Ultramarines are unstable in acid media and therefore must be used in an alkaline media above Ph of 7.2, (which soap is), or it will release hydrogen sulfide, a noxious odor and poisonous chemical. If you have ever mixed it with water or put it in lotion you will know what I mean it smells worse than rotten eggs!!  Other than the smell don't worry about it because it will take more than that used in coloring a product to be dangerous. Pink, rose, violet and blue.
   • Black Oxide & Titanium Dioxide - Black Oxide and Titanium Dioxide are used to darken or lighten, (tone or tint) other pigments. Only very small quantities are required. Titanium Dioxide is the primary ingredient in white house paint and has the highest opacity of any pigment.  It is either water or oil dispersible.

   Pearlescents

   Pearlescents are in a class of their own. These have been referred to and nicknamed as Mica. Their effects are achieved by simultaneous light reflection, refraction and transmission as it encounters translucent or transparent substances of high refractive indexes. Basically the white light is broken up similar to light through a prism creating a play of color. To manufacture pearlescents there are several steps required, hence the higher cost. A substrate of mica, (a quartz like substance that microscopically looks like tiny plates and resembles talc in appearance), is used and several color sources can be applied to achieve the desired color or effect.

   The particle size, which the thickness of the particle is primary, is measured in microns typically between <15 and <150 microns and dictates the effect of the light bending and reflecting off the substrate. This effect is referred to as Luster.

   • Low luster from a low size of micron substrate gives the effect of a pearl with a smooth sheen.
   • A medium size of micron substrate will give a silk or satiny effect.
   • The larger particle substrate gives a High Luster or Sparkle.
   • The larger the substrate, the "sparklier" the effects, although they are all shiny.

   As the particle size increases the opacity in your product decreases. At the low end your bar will look more opaque and at the high end your bar will still have transparency. Remember as well, as you add more of any pigment to your soap the opacity or transparency of your bar will decrease. The higher the particle size the more likely it is to sink in soap if the soap is poured at too high a temperature. Same for thin lotions or room sprays. Cooler soap is thicker and suspends the particles better.

   Color is achieved by coating the mica substrate with various dyes and pigments. Some are titanium dioxide/mica coated with an additional layer of colored pigment resulting in a brilliant color effects.

   • Iron Oxide/Titanium Dioxide gives a gold pearl
   • Chromium Oxide/Titanium Dioxide a green pearl
   • Carmine or D&C Red 30 a red pearl
   • Iron Oxide alone produces metallic effects such as the bronzes and coppers

   Others are coated with Iron Oxides, either red or black, and using a larger thickness of the mica substrate to give the effect of a 2 tone or Interference Color. Held one way it will look one color and turned it will give off another. Interference colors are two toned pigments that give their effects as a result of light absorption and light interference. They result from coating the substrate with a color additive which absorbs light also called a background color which has a different tone than the reflective color of the interference pigment used over it.

   • For a red-yellow, (gold), the substrate is first coated with a background red tone and then a yellow as the interference applied over it.
   • This causes the interference to reflect color and the red to absorb color, held straight in light you will see the red, turn it so the light now hits at an angle and you will see the yellow reflecting.

   It is of importance that these nacreous pigments be properly dispersed to ensure each particle is separate. The effects of these pigments is also dependant on having the particles lined up in your product and not just have the pigment at random. When they are at random you will have a billowing effect of color from the soap being poured. Although this has the effect of a billowing cloud which can be nice on its own, this also decreases the ability of light to create a play of color. One way to help achieve alignment is to pour your soap and then using a spatula or hair pick drag the pigments in one direction. While pearlescents can have some spectacular results, keep in mind that they reflect better when they have what is known as a background color. A red with a red background will look even better than on its own.

   Notes on garment Dyeing

   Black wool dresses for renewing and checked goods, with the check not covered by the first operation, are operated upon as follows:

   Preparation or mordant for eight black dresses for renewing the color.

   • 2 oz. Chrome (Potassium Dichromate)
   • 2 oz. Argol (potassium bitartrate) or Tartar (Potassium tartrate or bitartrate of potash)

   Or without argol or tartar, but I think their use is beneficial. Boil twenty minutes, lift, rinse through two waters. To prepare dye boiler, put in 2 lb. logwood, boil twenty minutes.

   Clear the face - Before the dyeing operations, steep the goods in hand-heat soda water (soda water is carbonated water and may contain a small amount of table salt, sodium citrate, sodium bicarbonate, potassium bicarbonate, potassium sulfate, or disodium phosphate), rinse through two warm waters. Discharge blues, mauves, etc., with diluted aquafortis (nitric acid). A skilled dyer can perform this operation without the least injury to the goods. This liquor is kept in stoneware, or a vessel made of caoutchouc (gum-elastic, or india-rubber) composition, or a large stone hollowed out of five slabs of stone, forming the bottom and four sides, braced together, and luted with caoutchouc (gum-elastic, or india-rubber), forming a water-tight vessel. The latter is the most convenient vessel, as it can be repaired. The others when once rent are past repair. The steam is introduced by means of a caoutchouc (gum-elastic, or india-rubber) coated pipe, and when brought to the boil the pipe is removed. After the colors are discharged, rinse through three warm waters. They are then ready to receive the mordant and the dye.

   Those with cotton and made-up dresses sewn with cotton same operation as before mentioned, using half the quantity of stuffs, and working cold throughout. Since the introduction of aniline black, some dyers use it in place of logwood both for wool and cotton. It answers very well for dippers, substituting 2 oz. aniline black for every pound logwood required. In dyeing light bottoms it is more expensive than logwood, even though the liquor be kept up, and, in my opinion, not so clear and black.

   Silk and wool dresses, poplins, and woolen dresses trimmed with silk, etc., for black:

   Clear the face - Before the dyeing operations, steep the goods in hand-heat soda water, rinse through two warm waters. Discharge blues, mauves, etc., with diluted aquafortis (nitric acid). A skilled dyer can perform this operation without the least injury to the goods. This liquor is kept in stoneware, or a vessel made of caoutchouc (gum-elastic, or india-rubber) composition, or a large stone hollowed out of five slabs of stone, forming the bottom and four sides, braced together, and luted with caoutchouc (gum-elastic, or india-rubber), forming a water-tight vessel. The latter is the most convenient vessel, as it can be repaired. The others when once rent are past repair. The steam is introduced by means of a caoutchouc (gum-elastic, or india-rubber) coated pipe, and when brought to the boil the pipe is removed. After the colors are discharged, rinse through three warm waters. They are then ready to receive the mordant and the dye.

   Note - The diluted aquafortis (nitric acid) vessel to be outside the dye-house, or, if inside, to be provided with a funnel to carry away the nitrous fumes, as it is dangerous to other colors.

   Preparation or mordant for eight dresses, silk and wool mixed, for black.

   • 4 lb. Copperas (green vitriol) - Mordant modifier as Ferrous sulphate crystal created as a a co-product from the manufacture of titanium dioxide
   • 1/2 lb. Bluestone (Blue, or roman, vitriol) - Mordant as the pentahydrate form of Cupric Sulphate collected as blue triclinic crystals; known as blue vitriol.
   • 1/2 lb. Tartar (Potassium tartrate or bitartrate of potash)

   Clear the face - Bring to the boil, dissolve the Copperas (Mordant modifier as Ferrous sulphate crystal), etc., shut off steam, enter the goods, handle gently (or else they will be faced, i.e., look gray on face when dyed) for one hour, lift, air, rinse through three warm waters.

   To prepare dye boiler, bring to boil, put in 8 lb. logwood (previously boiled), 1 lb. black or brown oil soap, shut off steam, enter goods, gently handle for half an hour, add another pound of soap (have the soap dissolved ready), and keep moving for another half hour, lift, finish in hand-heat soap. If very heavy, run through lukewarm water slightly acidulated with vitriol (sulfuric acid), rinse, hydro-extract, and hang in stove. Another method to clear them: Make up three lukewarm waters, in first put some bleaching liquor, in second a little vitriol (sulfuric acid), handle these two, and rinse through the third, hydro-extract, and hang in stove.

   Note - This is the method employed generally in small dye-works for all dresses for black; their lots are so small. This preparation can be kept up, if care is taken that none of the sediment of the Copperas (Mordant modifier as Ferrous sulphate crystal) is introduced when charging, as the Mordant modifier as Ferrous sulphate crystal creates stains. This also happens when the water used contains iron in quantity or impure Copperas (Mordant modifier as Ferrous sulphate crystal). The remedy is to substitute half a gill (2 1/2 oz.) of vitriol (sulfuric acid) in place of tartar.

   Silk, wool, and cotton mixed dresses, for black

   Dye the silk and wool as before described, and also the cotton in the manner previously mentioned.

   Another method to dye the mixed silk and wool and cotton dresses black
   • Bring boiler to the boil, put in
   • 3 or 4 oz. aniline black - either the deep black or the blue black or a mixture of the two. Treating indigo with caustic potash yields an oil, aniline, from the specific name of one of the indigo-yielding plants, Indigofera anil. In commerce today three brands of aniline (created from the reduction if nitrobenzene) are distinguished - aniline oil for blue, aniline oil for red, analine oil for black. Analine is used in the manufacture of mauveine (a purple dye) discovered in 1856 by William Henry Perkin.
   • 1/4 gill (1 1/4 oz.) hydrochloric acid or sulphuric acid or 3 oz. oxalic acid

   Clear the face - Shut off steam, enter, and handle for half an hour, lift, rinse through water,

   Dye the cotton in the manner previously described.

    

   
   
    
   
   
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