Eager to plunge into the wonderful world of natural dyeing? Explore our natural dyes below. Including some organic options!
6 products
Organic natural Indigo ~ Dye colour Blue
[our Indigo is NOT synthetic]
Country of Origin: India
The advantage in dyeing with Indigo is, that no mordant is needed. The water doesn't need to be heated to more than 40 degrees Celsius and a little goes a long way. We can dye 3-4 kg of Wool using 50g of Indigo.
There are many ways of dyeing with Indigo. Below you will find the recipe for a yeast vat. For a straight forward no-waiting-required approach, you can use Hydros as an oxygen remover. Waiting time approx. one hour.
Colourfastness: Excellent for dark colours, good for lighter colours
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Basic Recipe ~
It is possible to create a vat from indigo, lime (calcium hydroxide) and over-ripe fruit such as bananas or dates that relies on the chemistry of the sugars* rather than fermentation of the fruit. But it’s easier to simply use fructose shared in
Or for a more lightfast solution go for the recipe below or for a quick Vat, use the Hydros Vat, but it does use a chemical oxygen remover.
Both recipe are also available as dye Kits
FERMENTATION USING YEAST:
For 500gr wool etc. at one time . (amount can be repeated several times using the same bath)
9l water
dye container with lid
separate pot for the water bath to add the container
110gr sugar
50gr dried yeast with out preservatives etc.
30gr bicarbonate of soda
40gr ground Indigo
thermometer
This Method requires the dye bath to be on a constant 40 degrees Celsius and shouldn't exceed 50 degrees Celsius. Ideally put the dye pot in a water bath on a wire rack to ensure even distribution of temperature.
You can repeat this dyeing process using the same dye bath several times.
LOGWOOD ~ Available Cut or ground and as extract*
(Bois de Campeche, Campeachy Wood)
*Collected in the Wild (foraged) in Haiti
Logwood is a natural dye wood from Central America, used for producing blues and purples on wool, black on cotton and wool, and black and violet on silk.
Logwood is PH sensitive.
It is called by old dyers one of the Lesser Dyes because the colour was said to lose all its brightness when exposed to the air.
Colourfastness: poor
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Basic Recipe:
65g bark, soaked in water for 2 days.
100g mordanted yarn/fibre (Alum 10g)
Bring pot with dye to simmer For 2h.
Strain through cloth, add yarn/fibre and dye bag to dye bath for 1h.
Rinse.
The logwood chips should be put in a bag and boiled for 20 minutes to 1/2 an hour, just before using or soak overnight, bring to the boil in the morning for 1h, strain and bind into bag.
* When using extract you only need to use 5-10% of the weight of your dry fabric. Logwood is one of the more excessive dyes - a little goes a long way - especially when using extract.
The Magic of Maya Blue ~ a turquoise pigment made from indigo and praised for its resistance to aging. First discovered and extensively used by the pre-Columbian Mayan and Aztec People the recipe and even the knowledge of this fantastic brilliant turquoise colour was lost for many centuries. When the colour was re discovered on archaeological digs, the puzzling question on how to create this pigment was finally solved by Michel Garcia, who created a recipe that could be made in the studio.
Maya Blue ~ made with organic Indigo, is a turquoise blue pigment that can be used for printing and painting on paper or fabric. It is not suitable for dyeing. Mayan Blue pigment is extremely light and age resistant and therefore suitable for paintings and wall hangings.
Mixed with a binder it can be applied to fabrics, canvas or strong paper.
How to?
First make your own Soya Milk
(much richer in enzymes than store bought)
25g dry soya beans
500ml water + extra to soak the beans overnight
Fresh Soya milk will only last 2-3days in the fridge.
Application
Allow the pigment to dry for 1-2weeks. Now rinse gently to remove any excess Pigment and soya milk. This is a surface application and vigorous washing may remove more pigment than desired.
Have fun!
Dyer's Broom cut
Traditionally used for dyeing yellow and green. The green will be more on the tan side.
Basic recipe:
100% Broom
10% Alum
3% Iron as green option
Mordant as required, extract broom in 85C degrees Celsius for 1h. Remove dye, switch off pot and add your item and leave overnight. Treat with iron as an after mordant. Rinse, wash.
Colour fastness: medium
Black Beans or Black Turtle Beans ~ known generally to the cooking world, this bean makes a wonderful food dye. Not necessarily very colourfast, it matures into a beautiful ceramic colour - silver grey with a touch of blue. Because you are only using the soaking water, you can use the beans for cooking afterwards, making it a very 'no waste' food dye.
NOTE: Ph sensitive, not wash and light fast
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Basic Recipe:
100% Dried Black Beans
100g Cream of Tartar
Fibre/Fabric
After you have soaked the beans in cold water overnight - remember we want the soaking liquid so don't drain it away!
Fill a big pot with fresh water
Stir the beans to extract as much colour as possible.
Take a sieve and drain the liquid into the pot.
Put the beans back into the pot and fill with water again, stir than drain into pot.
add 100g of Cream of tartar to the dyebath.
add the table cloth bring to 80 degrees for 1 hour.
Leave overnight or 12 hours.
Rinse and dry.
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