4. BioChromes

What the week looked like

I was extremely happy with my project from last week and was looking forward to some more such fun assignments. However, once the global session ended, i was convinced i did not understand anything.

During the weekly local sesion, Mina took us through the key points of the global session, and things finally clicked. I could finally understand the intention of the assisgnment and the scope of it.

This week, me and Shefali worked together at her Mom's Kitchen to brew up these colours over a span of 3 evenings. In the end, we have come up with 75 swatches for our very first Material Library for the FabriLab at Somaiya School of Design.

Takeaways from Global Session

The global session by Cecilia started with her explaining that Biochromes are pigments released by a living organism.

Majority of the presentation was loaded with information about all the possible experiments imaginable around making dyes, inks and pigments. There were so many nuggets of information shared that i was left completely overwhelmed, with no clue of how to process it all.

A LOT of recepie specific chemistry based data was shared that my note taking couldn't keep up. I could not understand anything. There was so much data to look at and so very many examples shared that it all went over my head!

However, some of my favourite parts were Cecilia talking about how there could be a potential co-relationship between being plant-blind and being colour-blind; meaning our lack of observing or beign obtuse to the nature based flora aound us, is when we could be evolving into being colour blind as a consequence.

As a graphic communication designer who is really excited by colours, i especially found deep resonance with Cecilia talking about how Colours aren't just two dimensional recepie based, but rather a full circle structures with a well rounded spectrum.

Cecilia touched upon the fact that currently there is a lack of information on how clothes are dyed and in order for more mindful creation and consmumption, the way forward would be to 1. Be locally positive aka use locally created or sourced material 2. Aim towards creating Zero Waste 3. Invest and innovate in Biobased and Compostable materials

For this week, we were tasked to experiment with making a lot of Dyes from potentially 5 types of cources: Animals, Botanicals, Baterial, Mineral and Fungal. We were also to attempt converting this Dye into an Ink or a Pigment.

Checklist for the week

Personal thoughts and Ideas

Since we are the first batch from Somaiya School of Design and looking to use this year to learn and setup the Textile Lab, for this week we decided to work together and create a combined Material & Swatch Archive!

We didn't have access to any infrastructure or support for these exercises, so Shefali's mom very graciously offered us her Expertise and her Kitchen for us to do these experiments.

Working around the limitation of more complex setups, we decided to work with cheap and local flowers and vegetables that had a more straightforward recepie. Knowing that we didn't have the equipments for it, we wanted to push our experiments on how far we could push each batch of boling to obtain spectrum of colour variations.

What followed was 3 evenings of lots of boiling, measuring, swollen feet and back aches wondering if this was going to work BUT in the end a LOT of success.

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Research & Inspiration

Knowing the vast history of how pigments have been derrived from different types of sources across generations, i was very specific to not overwhelm myself by falling in love with colours i liked.

So for this assigment, i wanted to look at past students who had worked with similar limitations as us, especially ones who experimented in non-lab setups, using easily available everyday raw materials.

I looked at Kae's documentation along with Mina's work in order to take inspiration from how they represented their experiments, and looked at Rico's and Diane's documetation to look at various ways of pushing the envelope in exploring on various materials.

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Tools & Materials

TOOLS:

• Steel containers (1 per dye)
• Gas/ Stove/ Induction
• Glass containers/ Paper cups (to store dyes, collect pigments and make inks)
• Small containers (to store dyes and inks)
• Water supply (hot and cold)
• Measurement tools (cups, scales, spoons)
• Sieve
• Coffee filter paper
• Stirrers/ Toothpics
• Steel tongs
• Gloves
• Rags
• Hangars

MATERIALS:

Fabrics

• White Cotton (1.5m)
• White Linen (1m)
• White Wool yarn (1 piece)

Flowers

• Rose
• Hibiscus
• Orange Marigold
• Yellow Marigold

Vegetables

• Onion peel
• Purple Cabbage
• Beetroot
• Turmeric root
• Neem leaves

Ingredients for Fabric Prep

• PH Neutral soap: Ezee
• Mordants/ Fixatives: Salt, Alum, Vinegar, Baking Soda

Ingedients for making Ink

• Liquid Arabic Gum: Brustro

Work Flow:

Choosing Recepies

To begin with, it is extremely important to figure out the recipies that you have the resources and bandwidth to work on. For us, Shefali took the lead here to shortlist a long list of potential ones we could experiment with, based on what all could be accomodated at her mom's kitchen (which is where we worked this week).

Most of the factors that influenced our decision were based on the number of tools needed, the relative ease of the entire process and number of simultaneous stoves we had access to. Luckily for us, aunty had a 5 gas stove so we were able to work on 5 recipies simultaneously!

Selecting Raw Materials to Make the Dye

Once the recepies were shortlisted, a visit to the local markets determined the sort of flowers and vegetables we pickeup up. Since we would be needing these in rather larger quantites, we also looked at non-exotic and inexpensive materials.

Our final selection of roses, hibisus and marigolds which are available extremely widely in India, is also with the hopes that if incase someone wants to try these explorations, they do not need to shell out big bucks to achieve this; as these are the local flowers used across most ceremonies and celebrations.

For our selection of vegetables, we shortlisted based on some pre-proven trackrecord of them dissipating colours, since we weren't sure if all vegetables could help us extract dyes.

Selecting Raw Materials to Dye

As was informed during the Global Session, it was important for us to use natural materials. So we picked up a selection of 3 different types, cotton - linen - wool, just to see how different fabrics would react with the same dye.

Preparing Workspace

This, according to me, is one of the MOST important step, once the materials have been sourced and recipies finalised.

Based on the instructions for making the shortlisted recipies, it was apparent that having a workspace with ample shelf surfaces is most important, since a lot of experimentations need to be laid out, while working simultaneously on recepies.

The next important element for us was access to ample stoves/ heating devices and random kitchen utensils; sometimes to decant and other times to stir or hold.

We also had the privilege of access to a sink and help with cleaning. Based on the number of swatches we made, we did create quite a mess in the kitchen, and having constant assiatance really helped.

Preparing the Fabric

1. Wash the fabric in Ezee (PH neutral soap)
2. Simmer in hot water for 30 mins

3. Rinse with cool water and let it dry

4. Once dried, we cut the fabrics into smaller sections to make swatches

5. White cotton was cut into very tiny pieces

6. White linen was cut into pieces the size of an average handkerchief

7. White wool was cut into smaller bundles, small enough to fit flat inside the paper cups

Mordanting the Fabric

We prepared 2 batches of mordants:

1. Batch 1: Soak in 1 tablespoon Salt for 1 hour

2. Batch 2: Soak in 1 tablespoon Alum for 1 hour

3. Rinse the fabric in cool water and let it dry before dyeing

Making Flower based Dyes

We followed the following workflow individually across all the flowers collected:

1. Pluck all the petals

2. Soak the petals in water

3. We also used the leftover buds

4. Bring them to boil and simmer for 1 hour

5. Let the dye cool and strain out the flowers to extract the dye

Making Vegetable based Dyes

We followed the following workflow individually across all the vegetables:

1. Chop the vegetables/ collect peels

2. Soak the vegetables/ peels in water

3. Bring them to boil and simmer for 1 hour

4. Let the dye cool and strain out the vegetables/ peels to extract the dye

Making Flower Swatches

flowchart

Once the Flower dyes were ready:

1. For each batch of dye extracted, pour 30ml each across 9 cups

2. Each cup has 3 sets of variations of mordants (salt, vingear, alum) and

3. Each of the 3 sets of cups have 3 types of duration of time the fabric will be dipped in the dye (30mins, 60mins and 12 hours)

1. The salt cups had the fabrics mordanted in salt. For the rest of the cups, the fabrics were mordanted in Alum

2. 3 cups of 30ml dye each + 1/2 teaspoon salt + timer for 30mins, 60mins & 12 hours (overnight)

3. 3 cups of 30ml dye each + 1/2 teaspoon alum + timer for 30mins, 60 mins & 12 hours (overnight)

4. 3 cups of 30ml dye each + 1/2 teaspoon vinegar + timer for 30mins, 60 mins & 12 hours (overnight)

1. This was done for all 5 dyes: Rose, Hibiscus, Orange Marigold, Yellow Marigold and Leftover buds

2. Each cup had a small square swatch

1. Once 30mins were over, we removed the cotton swatch and transfered the remainder liquid to the 60min swatch

1. Once 60mins were over, we removed the cotton swatch and transfered the remainder liquid to the 12 hour overnight swatch

2. We let the swatches dry

1. While we waited for all the fabrics to soak, we took pieces of the yarn and soaked it in leftover dyes

1. Once dried, the cotton and yarn pieces were rinsed under cool water and left to dry again

Making Vegetable Swatches

flowchart

Once the Vegetable dyes were ready:

1. For each batch of dye extracted, pour 30ml each across 2 cups

2. Each vegetable cup has 2 sets of variations

3. We used cotton fabrics mordanted in Alum for all vegetable dyes

1. Beetroot Dye:
2. Batch 1: plain dye with fabric swatch soaked in
3. Batch 2: 1/2 teaspoon vinegar added to dye with fabric swatch soaked in
4. Both batches left to simmer for 20mins on low flame

1. Purple Cabbage Dye:
2. Batch 1: 1/2 teaspoon vinegar added to dye with fabric swatch soaked in
3. Batch 2: 1/2 teaspoon baking soda added to dye with fabric swatch soaked in
4. Both batches left to simmer for 1 hour on low flame

1. Onion Peel Dye:
2. Batch 1: 1/2 teaspoon alum added to dye with fabric swatch soaked in
3. Batch 2: 1/2 teaspoon vinegar + pinch of salt added to dye with fabric swatch soaked in

4. Both batches left to simmer for 40mins on low flame

5. Turmeric Root Dye:

6. Batch 1: 1/2 teaspoon alum added to dye with fabric swatch soaked in
7. Batch 2: 1/2 teaspoon vinegar + pinch of salt added to dye with fabric swatch soaked in
8. Both batches left to simmer for 40mins on low flame

1. Once the water evaporated and only the residue fabrics were left, we kept them to dry for 24 hours

Tie & Dye

1. Tying the fabric: We attempted 8 tie & dye variations on handkerchief sized linen pieces, using slightly thicker thread. We tried 2 explorations with Marigolds tied in the fabric to see if it would lead to new results.

1. Dyeing the fabric:
2. Dye 1: 1/2 teaspoon Alum + mixing Onion and Turmeric root dye. Simmer for 30 mins.
3. Dye 2: 1/2 teaspoon Alum + Rose dye. Simmer for 30 mins.
4. Dye 3: 1/2 teaspoon Alum + Neem dye. Simmer for 30 mins.

5. Dye 4: 1/2 teaspoon Alum + plain water + Flower tie dye. Simmer for 60 mins.

6. We left the fabric in dye for more than 3 hours.

1. We opened the tied threads once the fabrics dried.

Creating Pigment from Dye

Out of the 10 recepies we attempted, we selected 3 dyes to convert into inks: - Purple Cabbage (orignal colour: deep purple) - Rose (original colour: deep purple pink) - Onion Peel (original colour: yellow)

For all these 3 dyes, we followed the following process:

1. Glass 1: 60ml of dye + 1/32 teaspoon (dash) of salt + 10gm baking soda + mix everything together

1. Glass 2: 20gm Alum + 20ml boiling water + quickly mix this solution

2. Pour solution in Glass 2 into Glass 1. A lot of fizz forming followed.

1. Glass 3: add a sieve + coffee filter on top. Pour the fizzle mizture and let the liquid drip. It took us roughly 3 hours for the liquid to collect.

2. Once all the liquid has been collected and things are dry, scrape off the powdery textured residue collected in the coffee filter paper. This is the Pigment.

Creating Ink from Pigment

Once we got some pigment like residue, we mixed it with 10ml Liquid Arabic Gum.

We chose liquid arabic gum in order to reduce an extra step of having to mix the pigment with powder gum in water again.

During the addition of liquid arabic gum, one of the inks had larger undissolved Alum crystals, which formed fizz again!

However, these inks created beautiful swatches on paper, as they dried down with a crystalised texture.

Material Library

Since our experiments will be the first for our in-house the Textlie Lab, we wanted to create a formal documentation for future reference.

We mounted all our cotton & wool swatches on thick watercolour paper, along with small dye swatches on paper.

In total, we have 72 dye swatches and 3 ink swatches.

Recepies

Flower based Dyes

Rose Dye

Ingredients

• 2 cups fresh Rose flowers (about 8 flowers)

• 1/2 teaspoon each of Alum, Salt, & Vinegar

• 4 cups water

• 9 swatches of cotton fabric

Instructions

Prepare the Dye

• Remove the stems and place rose petals in a pot with 4 cups of water.

• Bring to a boil, then let it simmer for 30 mins.

• Let the dye cool, then strain out the flowers.

Dye the Fabric

• Measure out 30 ml of dye per cup (total 9 cups).

• Separate into 3 sets:

  • 3 cups with 1/2 teaspoon salt with dye for 30 mins, 60 mins and 12 hrs overnight.

  • 3 cups with 1/2 teaspoon vinegar with dye for 30 mins, 60 mins and 12 hrs overnight

  • 3 cups with 1/2 teaspoon alum with dye for 30 mins, 60 mins and 12 hrs overnight

• Submerge the fabric swatches into the dye baths.

• Let the fabrics dry, then rinse with cold water and hang to dry.

Hibiscus Dye

Ingredients

• 2 cups fresh Hibiscus flowers (about 8 flowers)

• 1/2 teaspoon each of Alum, Salt, & Vinegar

• 4 cups water

• 9 swatches of cotton fabric

Instructions

Prepare the Dye

• Remove the stems and place rose petals in a pot with 4 cups of water.

• Bring to a boil, then let it simmer for 1 hour.

• Let the dye cool, then strain out the flowers.

Dye the Fabric

• Measure out 30 ml of dye per cup (total 9 cups).

• Separate into 3 sets:

  • 3 cups with 1/2 teaspoon salt with dye for 30 mins, 60 mins and 12hrs overnight.

  • 3 cups with 1/2 teaspoon vinegar with dye for 30 mins, 60 mins and 12hrs overnight

  • 3 cups with 1/2 teaspoon alum with dye for 30 mins, 60 mins and 12hrs overnight

• Submerge the fabric swatches into the dye baths.

• Let the fabrics dry, then rinse with cold water and hang to dry.

Orange Marigold Dye

Ingredients

• 2 cups fresh marigold flowers (about 8 flowers)

• 1/2 teaspoon each of Alum, Salt, & Vinegar

• 4 cups water

• 9 swatches of cotton fabric

Instructions

Prepare the Dye

• Remove the stems and place marigold petals in a pot with 4 cups of water.

• Bring to a boil, then let it simmer for 1 hour.

• Let the dye cool, then strain out the flowers.

Dye the Fabric

• Measure out 30 ml of dye per cup (total 9 cups).

• Separate into 3 sets:

  • 3 cups with 1/2 teaspoon salt with dye for 30 mins, 60 mins and 12hrs overnight.

  • 3 cups with 1/2 teaspoon vinegar with dye for 30 mins, 60 mins and 12hrs overnight

  • 3 cups with 1/2 teaspoon alum with dye for 30 mins, 60 mins and 12hrs overnight

• Submerge the fabric swatches into the dye baths.

• Let the fabrics dry, then rinse with cold water and hang to dry.

Yellow Marigold Dye

Ingredients

• 2 cups fresh marigold flowers (about 8 flowers)

• 1/2 teaspoon each of Alum, Salt, & Vinegar

• 4 cups water

• 9 swatches of cotton fabric

Instructions

Prepare the Dye

• Remove the stems and place marigold petals in a pot with 4 cups of water.

• Bring to a boil, then let it simmer for 1 hour.

• Let the dye cool, then strain out the flowers.

Dye the Fabric

• Measure out 30 ml of dye per cup (total 9 cups).

• Separate into 3 sets:

  • 3 cups with 1/2 teaspoon salt with dye for 30 mins, 60 mins and 12hrs overnight.

  • 3 cups with 1/2 teaspoon vinegar with dye for 30 mins, 60 mins and 12hrs overnight

  • 3 cups with 1/2 teaspoon alum with dye for 30 mins, 60 mins and 12hrs overnight

• Submerge the fabric swatches into the dye baths.

• Let the fabrics dry, then rinse with cold water and hang to dry.

Leftover stems Dye

Ingredients

• Leftover stems from the four flowers

• 1/2 teaspoon each of Alum, Salt, & Vinegar

• 4 cups water

• 9 swatches of cotton fabric

Instructions

Prepare the Dye

• Remove the stems and place rose petals in a pot with 4 cups of water.

• Bring to a boil, then let it simmer for 1 hour.

• Let the dye cool, then strain out the leftovers.

Dye the Fabric

• Measure out 30 ml of dye per cup (total 9 cups).

• Separate into 3 sets:

  • 3 cups with 1/2 teaspoon salt with dye for 30 mins, 60 mins and 12hrs overnight.

  • 3 cups with 1/2 teaspoon vinegar with dye for 30 mins, 60 mins and 12hrs overnight

  • 3 cups with 1/2 teaspoon alum with dye for 30 mins, 60 mins and 12hrs overnight

• Submerge the fabric swatches into the dye baths.

• Let the fabrics dry, then rinse with cold water and hang to dry.

Vegetable based Dyes

Beetroot Dye

Ingredients:

• 2 medium-sized beets

• 1/2 teaspoon Vinegar

• 4 cups water

• 2 swatches of cotton fabric

Instructions:

Prepare the Dye:

• Peel and chop beets into small pieces. Place in water and boil.

• Simmer for 1 hour and strain the dye.

Dye the Fabric:

• Split into two batches:

  • Batch 1: Add 1/2 teaspoon vinegar for brighter red.

  • Batch 2: No fixative for softer pink.

• Simmer the batches with submerged fabric swatches in the dyes + fixatives for 20 mins

Purple Cabbage Dye

Ingredients:

• 1/2 head of purple cabbage

• 1/2 teaspoon Vinegar (for pink)

• 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda (for blue/green)

• 4 cups water

• 2 swatches of cotton fabric

Instructions:

Prepare the Dye:

• Chop cabbage, place it in water, bring to a boil, and simmer for 1 hour.

• Strain after cooling.

Dye the Fabric:

• Split the dye into two batches:

  • Batch 1: Add a pinch of salt and vinegar for pink.

  • Batch 2: Add baking soda for blue/green.

  • Simmer the batches with submerged fabric swatches in the dyes + fixatives for 1 hour

• let them dry

Onion Peel Dye

Ingredients:

• 2 cups onion skins

• Pinch of Salt + 1/2 teaspoon Vinegar

• 1/2 teaspoon Alum

• 4 cups water

• 2 swatches of cotton fabric

Instructions:

Prepare the Dye:

• Collect onion skins, place them in water, and boil. Simmer for 1 hour.

• Strain the skins to extract the dye.

Dye the Fabric:

• Divide the dye into 2 batches:

  • Batch 1: Add a pinch of salt and vinegar.

  • Batch 2: Add 1/2 teaspoon alum.

  • Simmer the batches with submerged fabric swatches in the dyes + fixatives for 40 mins

• let them dry

Turmeric Root Dye

Ingredients:

• 1 cup grated turmeric root

• Pinch of Salt + 1/2 teaspoon Vinegar

• 1/2 teaspoon Alum

• 4 cups water

• 2 swatches of cotton fabric

Instructions:

Prepare the Dye:

• Grate turmeric root, place in water, and bring to a boil.

• Simmer for 40 mins and strain.

Dye the Fabric:

• Split into two batches:

  • Batch 1: Add salt and vinegar.

  • Batch 2: Add alum.

• Simmer the batches with submerged fabric swatches in the dyes + fixatives for 40 mins

Neem Leaf Dye

Ingredients:

• 2 cups fresh neem leaves

• 4 cups water

• 1 tablespoon salt (as a fixative)

• 2 swatches of cotton fabric

Instructions:

Prepare the Dye:

• Wash neem leaves and place them in a pot with water.

Boil and simmer for 1 hour.

• Let the mixture cool and strain out the leaves.

Dye the Fabric:

• Submerge fabric in the neem leaf dye.

• Simmer for 1–2 hours, stirring occasionally.

• Hang to dry.

Learnings

1. Being cognisant of our scope of setup/ infrastructre really helped us be efficent with the sort of recepies that we picked up and the variations that we could experiment with. There are learnings from simpler experiments as well. And these experiments offered us a lot of scope to push for more explorations.

2. DIY solutions worked really well for us. However, once we packed up, we saw so much waste that had been created as a consequence. next year when we mentor students for this module, i would want to be better prepared.

3. I was really thankful that we were experimenting in a Kitchen. Had it been a lab, i doubt we could find as innovative solutions on such short notice. Hopefully, for next time, we can furnish our lab better to be able to forsee this.

4. It was intersting to see colours shift when converted from dyes to pigments and inks. Did not expect the massive colour shift we witnessed. And also how the colour swatches on paper changed their shade from when freshly applied to when they dried down.

5. For next time, i would attempt everything the way we attempted the Flower Dye system, of letting the fabric brew in the dye for variable time durations. Also keen to see some explorations through Mineral Dyes, after seeing the crystalisation effect from alum as a mordant.

6. This week i got to work together with Shefali to build the Biochrome Material Library, and working together really was beautiful teamwork where we could support each other and fill in the gaps. It was a nudge for me to try attempting more challenging experimental projects together.

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People to thank for this week

Shefali: without whose research on recepies that could be possible, this week could have ended on a really bad note

Shefali's Mom: without whose support, be it her Kitchen or her quick wit throughout, this week's project would not have been possible at all!! She opened up her entire kitchen and resources for our experimentation and i will forever be grateful.

This week in emojis: 🤔🧐🥺🥲🫡🤝🧑‍🍳🤳🧑‍💻😅🤩

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RESULTS

Two ways of showcasing and comparing results with images below

On the left an image of a sample made by xxx with xxx. The dye is more xxx. On the right, an image of a sample made by xxx with xxx and xxx. Here the dye is more xxx.

RESULTS

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Recipes

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1. recipe: banana indigo ↩