4. Biochromes¶

This week, we learned about natural dyeing techniques and applications, ranging from plants to bacteria.

Assignment¶

This week’s assignment is to create at least 1 natural dye and 1 ink. For the dyes, experiment with plant and animal derived textiles. On the dye or ink experiment with modifiying the color using pH.

Workflow¶

This is the general workflow that we followed this week:

Forage for potential natural dyeing materials in Franklin Park. Identify plants using online research and local knowledge.
Prepare textiles for dying. Mordant textiles as needed. Develop a systematic way to organize, dye and record samples
Dye samples using various recipes. Modify as needed depending upon what is available in the lab.
Dry textiles, record final colors and conditions used.

Foraging¶

Because we were curious about what natural dyeing agents we can find in our environment, we decided to go to Franklin Park a park that is apart of the Emerald Necklace Conservancy. This Conservancy is 1,100 acres of park that is connected to each other via waterways and parkways. Franklin Park is considered the “Crown Jewel” of the Emerald Necklace. We are approaching near the end of fall so I was concerned about the availability of vibrant and colorful plants, flowers, etc that would be available however we did end up finding quite a few things!

Our foraging spoils:

Dyeing¶

Preparing the Textile

Flame Test

To confirm that the materials we were using were indeed from plant or animal derived we performed a simple flame test. With this test we were able to confirm to confirm the identity of the materials we planned on using for this assignment. For this assignment we used the following: - cotton muslin - cotton canvas - silk - wool

Animal and plant derived textiles were processed differently to prepare them for dyeing

animal-based textile (wool + silk): handwashed fabrics with Dawn dish soap 2x in lukewarm water
plant Based textile (cotton muslin + cotton canvas): boiled in lukewarm water for 30 minutes

Dyeing the Textiles

The table below summarizes the natural dyes used and the conditions used for dyeing:

Mordant Preparation

Alum: Measure alum needed (15% of total fabric weight being used = 2.88 grams). Add alum to 1.5 L of water. Heat at medium-high on a hot plate. Heated for ~ 45 minutes. Final heating temperature was 162.5 F (72.5C), pH = 2

Copper: Measure alum needed (6% of total fabric weight being used = 1.1 grams). Add copper to 1 L of water and stirHeat at medium-high on a hot plate. Heated for ~ 45 minutes. pH = 7.5 hot, pH = 6 after cooling

Dyeing Recipe + Procedure

Pokeberry: Place pokeberries, including the stems (85 g) in 1 L of water. Heat on medium heat + simmer for ~1.25 hours. Do not not boil! Stir and crush berries as it is being heated

Hibiscus: Let hibiscus flowers soak (56.3 g) in 470 mL of lukewarm water for ~5 minutes. Add ~ 150 mL of water, place on a hot plate at medium heat. Simmer for 30 minutes

Annatto: Added annatto seeds (27.5 g) to ~ 200 ml of water. Let simmer on medium heat for 0.5 hours. Add water as needed.

Modifiers

3 types of modifiers were used: - Vinegar: 1 mL of distilled white vinegar was added to the petri dish (5% acidity, Pique Brands, Inc) - Copper Power: 1 pinch of copper powder was added to the petri dish (Artmolds, fine mesh 320) - Iron Oxide: pinch of iron oxide powder was added to the petri dish (Alpha Chemicals, Fe3O4)

Rinsing and Drying

Samples were rinsed in local tap water until they were no longer bleeding and placed to dry on a piece of cardboard

Results