ALUM MORDANT (Potassium Aluminum Sulphate Dodecahydrate)
~ Necessary for most plant dyes to ensure colour fastness ~

Alum is considered the safest and least harmful mordant used in natural dyeing. It helps fix dyes to fibres and enhances colour retention. What many don't realise is that Alum occurs naturally in nature, and some plants, such as Lycopodium, contain natural Alum.

Mordanting Cellulose Fibres

For mordanting cellulose fibres, please refer to our blog for detailed recipes:

• How to Mordant Linen and Cotton Fabrics Successfully – AppleOak FibreWorks

• How to Mordant Linen and Cotton Successfully Without Tannins – AppleOak FibreWorks

Basic Recipe for Wool

Ingredients:

• 10%-20% Alum (based on the Dry Weight of Fibre - D.W.F.)

• Wool (or other protein fibres)

• Water

• Optional: 5% Cream of Tartar (for hot mordanting)

Instructions:

Cold Mordanting:

1. Weigh your dry textile material.

2. Soak the dry material in water.

3. Dissolve Alum in hot water and add to a mordanting pot filled with water.

4. Add pre-soaked wool and let sit for 24-72 hours.

Hot Mordanting:

1. Dissolve Alum in hot water and add to a mordanting pot filled with water.

2. Add 5% Cream of Tartar to slow down the mordant uptake.

3. Add wool and bring to 80°C for 1 hour.

4. Let cool, then rinse and dye or dry for later use.

Alum is ideal for protein fibres like wool and silk, ensuring vibrant and lasting colour results.

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OAK GALL
Use: Cellulose Fibre Mordant | Harvested From: Aleppo Oak in Turkey | Also Known As: Oak Apple | Recipe: link below

Oak Gall, also known as Oak Apple, is harvested from the Aleppo Oak in Turkey and is a traditional mordant used for cellulose fibres. Due to its high tannin content, it is an effective mordant for preparing cellulose-based fabrics for natural dyeing. Unlike other tannin-based mordants, Oak Gall only stains the cellulose fibre a light beige, making it a preferred choice for delicate dyeing projects.

Key Features:

• High tannin content for cellulose mordanting
• Minimal staining cellulose fibres
• Available whole, cut, or ground

Function:
Oak Gall is used to prepare cellulose fibres for natural dyeing, helping the dye adhere to the fabric without leaving stains. Its high tannin content ensures vibrant and durable colours on cellulose fabrics like cotton, linen, and hemp. 

Storage & Usage:

• Available in whole, cut, or ground form.
• Store in a cool, dry place.

Perfect for natural dyers and textile artists working with cellulose fibre. Please see this recipe for mordanting cellulose with Gallotannin

SODA ASH ~ To change colour (PH indicator) and scouring cellulose fibres

No natural Dye Studio can do without Soda Ash. It may be used in small amounts to alter PH or used for scouring cellulose fibres. Soda Ash is alkaline and used to increase the PH in a dye bath as well as in an Indigo Vat. It also brightens yellows, especially Reseda and Sage.

Instructions:

In general Soda Ash can be dissolved in the  hot dye bath at 3-10%. It helps to increase the PH of the bath.

IRON MORDANT ~ Mordant, Colour Changer, increased light fastness

Iron (Ferrous Sulfate) is used alone as a mordant, influencing Colours and to increase light fastness when used in combination with other natural dyes.

Iron is best known for shifting yellows into greens, keep in mind that this is not given and doesn't work with every yellow plant dye, in which case it will be more of a brown. it is used to increase light fastness for weaker plant dyes, bu it will always sadden and/or darken the colours. 

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Basic recipe:

When adding Iron to your dye bath start of with 3% and use it at the end of your dye bath or as an after bath. Allow to oxidize for 10 min for full colour development.

*If you like your colours darker, increase the Iron amount by 1-2% at a time. 

**Leave for 10min than remove from dye bath - Iron will make wool brittle.

HYDROS ~ is the colour or oxygen remover used for indigo or woad vats.

Dithionite can replace Spectralite ( basically the same, but you would need less and it is more expensive).

Instructions:

A 10L Indigo Vat requests up to 50g of Hydros.

* Sprinkle over the Dye Vat to remove Oxygen - the Vat should turn a yellow green.

**Please be aware, that this is a chemical and to avoid a chemical reaction allways add Hydros to water and not Water to Hydros.

***Other words for Hydros: Sodium Dithionite, Thiourea dioxide, Thiox, Hydrosulfite Sodium.

Lime (calcium hydroxide) 

It is possible to create a vat from indigo, lime (calcium hydroxide) and over-ripe fruit such as dates or bananas, relying on the chemistry of the sugars* rather than fermentation of the fruit. But it’s easier to simply use fructose. It’s very simple: One Part indigo, two parts lime and three parts fructose, plus warmth.

You can either purchase your individual items or you can purchase our Organic Indigo Vat Kit. The Organic Indigo Recipe is also available as a download and so is an Organic indigo Vat Troubleshooter (comes with a free download link if you purchase the Organic Indigo Vat Kit. 

*Fructose and glucose found in ripe fruit are reducing sugars; ordinary sugar – sucrose – is not a reducing sugar.