ANNATTO – ORGANIC, NON-ORGANIC & POWDERED
Botanical name: Bixa orellana
Dye colour: Yellow, orange, copper
Wool, silk, cotton and linen can all be dyed successfully with annatto. It yields warm yellows to rich orange tones and combines beautifully with other dyes such as cochineal and madder for extended colour ranges.
We offer three forms of annatto due to availability:
• Organic Whole Seeds – Wild harvested in Côte d'Ivoire
• Non-Organic Whole Seeds – Standard dye grade
• Non-Organic Powdered Seeds – Finely ground for quicker extraction and even application
Colour Range & Combinations
• Use with cochineal and cream of tartar for orange-red colours
• Pre-dye silk with madder, then add to an annatto bath for copper-orange
• Combine with tartaric acid to achieve yolk yellow
The dye is not very lightfast and may need to be refreshed after a few years. However, blending annatto with cochineal improves durability.
Basic Recipe for Yellow
100 g wool or silk, mordanted with 15% alum and 10% cream of tartar
100 g annatto seeds
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Soak annatto seeds overnight with 10 g soda ash
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Blend the soaked seeds and simmer for 1 hour
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Strain through cloth and tie off seeds in a dye bag
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Add silk to dye bath for 20 minutes at 80 °C
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Remove silk; simmer wool in the same bath for 1 hour (without dye bag)
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Return silk for an additional 15 minutes
This bath can be reused for lighter yellow-orange tones.
Pre-soaking wool in a vinegar bath for 10 minutes can enhance the brightness of the final shade.
In a nutshell
• Material: Annatto seeds (whole or powdered)
• Botanical name: Bixa orellana
• Grades offered: Organic, non-organic, powdered
• Dye colours: Yellow, orange, orange-red, copper
• Fibre compatibility: Wool, silk, linen, cotton
• Fastness: Poor to medium
• Best used with: Cochineal, madder, cream of tartar, tartaric acid
