Skip to content

4. Biochromes

So much fun with colour and mixing stuff and watching magic happen.

Research

More to come...

bacterial dye

Just some pictures for now, until I decipher the chicken scratchings in my notebook

Selection of bacterial cultures used.
bacterial cultures set in beakers
bacterial cultures set in beakers and in petrie dishes and stashed in the cupboard for the next few weeks

natural dyes

fabrics

  • a rough cotton
  • a thin old linen cotton sheet
  • a swatch of silk with an existing white flower print

#### mordant(s) - aluminum phospate

6 dye baths

  1. red cabbage
  2. cochineal (mealy bug, my secret revenge)
  3. curcuma (tumeric)
  4. avocado peels and seeds
  5. sumac
  6. annatto seeds

modifiers

  1. vinegar - pH 2-2.5
  2. vinegar + iron (supplements) - pH 3.5
  3. aluminum phospate - pH 6
  4. bicarbonate soda - pH 9

results

Mousover to see clearer. Click to enlarge and get details.

This red cabbage has the blues
first strips of cabbage, avocado and sumac
adding strips of cochineal and annatto seeds
Cabbage
cochineal (Mealy bug)
Annatto seeds from the bixa tree, bought at the Otavalo market in Equador in 2016 (finally found good use for them)
Curcuma (lots, much too much)
Avocado peels and seeds
Sumac : didn't look like much while soaking, but gave interesting results with modifyers
Paper : dug up some old handmade paper samples and tried it in different baths. These three worked best: cabbage, cochineal and curcuma.
Thin cotton tie-dye with cabbage and curcuma, center dipped in pH 9 and ends in pH 2
Rough cotton tie-dye and printed silk with cochnieal in iron/vinegar modifying bath (pH 3.5)

Inks

Comming soon...

×

Last update: January 18, 2021