4. BioChromes¶

Research¶

BioChromes = living colors

For this week we are looking into everything that surrounds us, the colors in both man-made and nature things and living forms. To experiment with what's at hand to make pigments that could later be use as inks or dyes for our materials.

I'm interest in mineral and plant based sources for color. On one hand I'd like to extract pigment out of some rocks I collected in the surrounding areas of Bilbao that used to be an open mine. And also from different both autochthonous and introduced plants to our surroundings, such as the Eucalyptus tree. From the autochthonous plants I'm more inclined to look into weeds.

I'm interested in mineral pigments because of their use in Cave Art, thousands of years ago and which are preserved to this day in the countless caves where Paleolithic people used to inhabit and practice their rituals and shelter around the Cantabric seaside, and around the globe. I'm intrigued by the unknow meaning of different symbolic figures and the secrets they entangle. The mystery of same icons being found in very remote and distance areas of the planet dated from similar thousands of years ago. Locally, I'm researching and intrigued by the movements of the natural elements or of the actual pigments used in the Cave Art thousands of years ago, in relation to the exchanges and movements that people might have been doing such long time ago, mapping the relations of people and their interdependency. I'm also interested in studying and questioning the current conservation measures that these naturocultural enclaves have, for their preservation and the relation to heritage for humans.

cueva de Altamira cueva del castillo

On the left, Tectiform sign at Altamira Cave, and on the right also Tectiform and dots paintings in Castle Cave, both in Cantabria, SP. More here.

In the north of Spain, Eucalyptus tree was fist introduced in 1850, after which became of great interest for paper industry due to it's fast growth, developing into a ecosystem problem due it's mass-plantation and therefore the decreasing of diversity of our forests, and deregulation of soil and water. In recent decades, there's been effords to control this manunfactory-horiented planing of forests. Some specimens are of great majesty due to their longecity and dimensions. More here

Eucalyptus

References & Inspiration¶

Most inspiring reference would be the project Colour Topographies by Käthe Wenzel. Site-specific research on color at diferent locations, exploring the knowledge that plants, mineral and other carry fromt he places we inhabit. I like the concept of bio-invasiveness and using mapping as a tool to trace the movement of different beings, either plants, human residues and other. Also the different processes carried out for the extraction of pigments are very interesting, mostly fermentation, but also oxidation and modification by iron.

reff01 — Colour Topographies exhibition by Käthe Wenzel at Art Laboratory, Berlin

Also, the work of Belén Rodriguez, who's textile artworks are naturally died with elements from the forests where she lives in Cantabria, turning out in beautiful sometimes participative installations.

Bio pigments atelier_Marius Melissas

Tools ⚙¶

[Isopropanol 99,9%]
[Digital scale, hotpots, pots, blender, spoons, funnel, ...]
[GUAR gum, vinegar, baking soda, iron, copper]

Process and workflow¶

On one hand I'm researching mineral, bacterial and fungui source pigments. And also with my colleagues from Basque BioDesign Center, we did together a palette of colours from botanical sources, including: onion skins, eucalyptus, avocado seeds, and mate herbs.

Mineral sources¶

Process and workflow¶

I got two rocks from a former open mine near Bilbao. Rock 01 _ 294gr into 1L of water and boil for 50 minutes, nothing happened. Rock 02 _ 250gr into 592ml of isoptopanol 99,9% and boil for 50 minutes, nothing happened.

So then I went outside and with a hammer tried to grind some of the rock to ferment the powder for some days, some in water, some in alchohol (isoptopanol). I grind a total of 25gr of rock powder.

reff01

I left my powder in the liquids for 1 week and nothing happened, so i took it out and continued with trying to grind as much as possible my powder. I used a spatula and a glass round object. I mixed my powder with a bit of destilled water and GUAR gum to try turned it into a pigment, and it kind of did! But then when painting a piece of fabric with it, it won't react to the modifiers, and it would eventually fade out after washing it a few times. So we came to the conclusion that the rocks that I got, even dusty and red-color looking, might have not been much composed of iron oxide. And that the pigment I made wasn't tintable. But I'm excited about the process I went though and will improve my rock-scouting techniques and want to get a rock with iron oxide to repeat this process !

wip_01 — grinding powder, straining it and mixing

wip_02 — grinding powder from iron oxide rocks took at a former mine

Ingredients & Recipes¶

Prepare this recipe [^1] by collecting the ingredients necessary, to be found in the list below:

ingredients

25 gr rock
0,8 gr guma gum
0,5 gr fabric
4 ml water

Iron oxide¶

recipe iron oxide dye on cotton fibers

measure your textile and rocks
grind your rocks and shiver your powder until it gets the finest as possible
you can strain your paste through very fine polyester fabric
add some destilled water and guma gum until making a paste

Rocks_RESULTS¶

Botanical sources¶

Process and workflow¶

First we weigth our dried fabrics, we have 450gr of fabrics. Then, we prepared them altogether to be dyed with the mordant, using a 10% of the WoF (WoF=Weigth of Fabric) of alum, plus 1/4 per litre of water of vinegar. We put our fabrics into 9L of water. Meaning we used 0,9gr of alum, and 2,25l of vinegar.

WoF = Weigth of Fabric
Mordant = helps fiber to bond with natural dye

Mordant: ALUM + VINEGAR
8 or 10% of WoF of ALUM 
1/4 of the WATER of VINEGAR

table funnel

Table with our samples ready + important to funnel our dye baths through a funnel + very tight mesh poly fabric to make sure no lumps go in our bath

Ingredients & Recipes¶

Avocado pits_mellow orange¶

Prepare this recipe [^2] by collecting the ingredients necessary, to be found in the list below:

ingredients

245 gr avocado pit
0,225 gr alum
112 gr fabric
2,25 l water
0,56 l vinegar

Summary

measure your dry fabric, and your avocado pits
add your fabric into mordant
cut the avocado pits and simmer for 50 min
funnel your dye water
remove your fabric from mordant after 24h
strain fabrics to remove mordant water (optional dry)
put fabric into dye bath

Onion skins_pink¶

Prepare this recipe [^3] by collecting the ingredients necessary, to be found in the list below:

ingredients

115 gr onion skins
0,225 gr alum
112 gr fabric
2,25 l water
0,56 l vinegar

Summary

measure your dry fabric, and your onion skins
add your fabric into mordant
simmer onion skins for 50 min
funnel your dye water
remove your fabric from mordant after 24h
strain fabrics to remove mordant water (optional dry)
put fabric into dye bath

Eucalyptus bark_soft brown¶

eucalyptus bark dye — onion skins dye bath after 30 min

Prepare this recipe [^4] by collecting the ingredients necessary, to be found in the list below:

ingredients

189 gr eucalyptus bark
0,225 gr alum
112 gr fabric
2,25 l water
0,56 l vinegar

Summary

measure your dry fabric, and your eucalyptus bark
add your fabric into mordant
simmer eucalyptus bark for 50 min
funnel your dye water
remove your fabric from mordant after 24h
strain fabrics to remove mordant water (optional dry)
put fabric into dye bath

Mate herb_greens¶

mate herb dye — onion skins dye bath after 30 min

Prepare this recipe [^5] by collecting the ingredients necessary, to be found in the list below:

ingredients

300 gr mate herb
0,225 gr alum
112 gr fabric
2,25 l water
0,56 l vinegar

Summary

measure your dry fabric, and your mate herb
add your fabric into mordant
simmer mate herb for 50 min
funnel your dye water
remove your fabric from mordant after 24h
strain fabrics to remove mordant water (optional dry)
put fabric into dye bath

Modifiers¶

For our palette, we use baking soda, iron, copper and vinegar as modifiers to get 4 undertones for each of out dyes.

Material name	Fabric composition	Breathability	Moisture-wicking abilities	Heat retention abilities	Stretchability	Washing temperatures
Silk	Animal fibers - silkworm insect	Highly breathable	High	Low	Low	Cool or warm
Cotton	vegetable fibers	Breathable	High	Low	Low	Cool or warm
Linen	vegetable fibers	Breathable	High	Low	Low	Cool
Felt	vegetable fibers	Breathable	High	Low	Medium	Cool
Bambu	vegetable fibers	Breathable	High	Low	High	Cool or warm
Wool	synthetic fibers	Breathable	High	High	Low	Cool