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4. Biochromes

This week we explored natural dyes and inks. How to produce them and modify them to get different shades and results.

Let me walk you through my journey with colours.


Research & Inspirations

I enjoyed this easy eco print tutorial by "The Barefoot Dyer"

I also found this natural dyeing guide by "Victoria Martinez Azaro" to be very useful and very informative

Fabric Preparation

In order to dye the fabric we went through this process:

  1. Fibre Scaling 
_First start by separating and determining the source of your fabric into animal based and plant based.  
Use a scale to weight the fabrics in order to calculate the amount of ingredients needed for the recipe._


WOF = Weight of fibre

Note WOF is calculated using dry fabrics, never wet.

Scouring


  1. Scouring & Rinsing

Cleaning fibres prior dyeing is very important.
If the fibre is not clean, the mordant and dyes may not adhere well to the fibre and result may vary.

Scouring

Plant Fibres

Add Soda to hot water 
Soda amount= a 1 tsp to 1L ratio 
leave it on high heat for 30 min to 1 H.  
Then rinse it with a gradually temperature lowered water until it becomes lukewarm and massage it.

Animal Fibres

Add Soda to hot water 
Soda amount= a 1 tsp to 1L ratio 
leave it on medium to low heat for 30 min to 1 H.  
Then rinse it with a gradually temperature lowered water until it becomes lukewarm and massage it.


  1. Mordant

The final step in fabric preparation is adding a Mordant agent of choice and letting them simmer. There are many Mordant agents. However we focused on "copper" and "Alum" Let them simmer for 30 min

Plant Fabrics

Either :  
 ALum = 10-15% of WOF  

 or

 Copper = 5-7 % of WOF

Animal Fabrics

Either :  
 ALum = 10-20% of WOF  
 cream of tartar powder = 8% of WOF  

 or 

 Copper = 5-7 % of WOF
Let them simmer for 30 min to 1 Hour.


Natural Dyes

The options to experiment with are endless. We have experimented with many but here are the highlights:


Alkanet

Ingredients :

   1. fabric 
   2. water
   3. Alum 
   4. Copper
   5. Soda
   6. Citric acid or lemon
   7. Vinegar
   8. ethanol
   9. Alkanet



Instructions:

1. Extract colour with ethanol
     I used 200 g of crushed alkanet and added 1800 ml of ethanol   
     Separated them into 2 jars corresponding to the available jar sizes and left for 2 Hours.

     Note: this amount was used for the dyes and inks and pigments


2. Prepare fabrics
     * I did that by first sorting my skeins and tags (similar in size) based on source (animal or plant)
     * I then proceeded to score them and clean them by using Soda water bath (a 1 tsp to 1L ratio)  
     and rinsed them
     * Finally I Used 2 Mordant agents for 2 separate batches: Copper and Alum.  
       On moderate heat for 45 min.
         * Alum  15% WOF ratio.
         * Copper 6% WOF ratio.

3. Filter the colour Extraction using a coffee filter. 
4. Divided the extraction of one and a half jar into 5 glass jars (recycled one in this experiment).
5. Heat the 5 jars and add modifiers and mordant fabrics with the following categories for 1 Hour :
    * Alum mordant fabrics
    * Alum mordant fabrics + Bicarbonate Soda Vinegar (5g)
    * Alum mordant fabrics + Vinegar (15g)
    * Copper mordant fabrics
    * Copper mordant fabrics + paper clip


  6. Let the dye baths cool down overnight and remember to close the lids after cooling so the ethanol will not evaporate
  7. Rinse the fabrics in lukewarm water and let them dry

    _Note : I experimented a bit with creating some pattern using shibori _

Final result


Onions

We worked as a group to create some onion and hibiscus dyes along with many trials for other materials. We started by laying all the ingredients we managed to find as a palette to choose from.

For the onions, We started by using the peels, and simmering them in a hot bath for half an hour. After that we filtered the liquid and simmered the mordant fabrics in it for half an hour. Then used the liquid as inks.

### Hibiscus

The Hibiscus was a great experiment as the colours it produced were marvellous. As expected, we started by simmering the hibiscus in a hot water bath. Then simmered the mordant fabrics in it for some time . ALso used it to make inks.

Ink

Alkanet

By filtering the extracted dye through ethanol earlier i divided equal amounts to create different hues from Alkanet using modifiers

Each modifier had a different effect but all equally beautiful.

Pigments

Instructions
Heating the dyes (alkanet+ethanol+-modifiers) in a large glass
 Start with 10 grams of alum and 5 grams of Sodium Bicarbonate. Each one is mixed with boiling water separately.
Add the alum first then the Sodium Bicarbonate slowly
Mix to add air to encourage material separation.
* Filter using a coffee filter and let it dry

Pigments

Eco print

eco print

Recipe

Ingredients :

   1. fabric 
   2. water
   3. Alum 
   4. Soda
   5. plants

Method :

 1. Choose your plants. 
 2. Scour the fabric using soda-water ("1 tsp / 1 L ratio") bath for 30 min.
    Then rinse it with lukewarm water.
 3. Mordant the fabric with ALum and 
    Since this is a linen fabric I will be using Alum in 15% of WOF ratio.
 4. After being semi dry I placed the plants.
    cover it with recycled plastic packaging sheets.
    Then I roll it around a glass jar and tightly secured it with a thread
 5. Simmer for 25 min.

Final result


Fails to learn from

Bougainvillaea seeds

Boiling the seeds and dye bath the fabric in it didn't work. The result was an almost white fabric.
However I tried to use ethanol to extract the colour for which a green ink was produced.

Bougainvillaea flowers

using 14.5g of  bougainvillaea flowers.
Grinded them and and then bath dyed them for 20 min on moderate to high heat  
added the fabric skien and tag.  
Let them stay submerged for 24 hours yet the fabric is slightly dyed.

Last update: 2022-09-04
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