4. BioChromes

Research

from Google serching page

aihirako- is one of my friend also an artist of tradicional indigo dying. She is trying to tradicional indigo dying but creating the modern design.

This summer, I participated in the Feature Fabrics Mexico 2024 project. In Mérida, Mexico, members from about 20 countries gathered to visit the villages of the Maya people and engage in activities to enhance their handicrafts using techniques learned from digital fabrication and Fabricacademy.

Among the project, there was a team that proposed natural dyeing by creating samples using natural materials available in the Maya people's region. What left an impression was the various substances they used for mordanting."

References & Inspiration

"Kakegawa City—a city famous for green tea leaves production, located an hour by car from the city I live in. Every four years, an art festival related to green tea is held. This year is the year of the festival—the Kakegawa Chaennale. A friend of mine was working on a project with an artist, using various things like flowers, plants, mud, and seashells etc. found in the city as paint. I occasionally joined them in painting together."

"That’s why I decided to make a dye solution using familiar materials from around my home and to do the mordanting with things I already had at home. I had just the right items—bakingd soda (Sodium biocarbonate) for cleaning and lemons from the garden of my father-in-law."

Making lots of pigments from various materiales in Kakegawa.

Blue is very rare!

Process and workflow

1. Preparation

My first step was Pre-processing. Preparation the fabrics. Since it’s plant-based, I used soy milk from the fridge for the pre-treatment to help the dye stick.

ingredientes

• Soy milk 400ml
• Water 400ml
• cotton
• linen

recipe

1- Since it’s plant-based, I used soy milk from the fridge for the pre-treatment to help the dye stick.

2- soaked the cotton fabric for about 30 minutes to allow the protein to bind to the fibers.

3- After that, I wrung it out and let it air-dry.

4- Do not wash with water.

2. DYEING

"Next, I made the dye solution.

ingredientes

• Soy milk
• Water
• cotton
• linen

recipe

1- Since it’s plant-based, I used soy milk from the fridge for the pre-treatment to help the dye stick.

2- soaked the cotton fabric for about 30 minutes to allow the protein to bind to the fibers.

3- After that, I wrung it out and let it air-dry.

4- Do not wash with water.

3. Results of Dyeing

Boiled the red spider lily (lycoris radiata) which is a flower that blooms in October and November in my area of Japan. After 30 minutes, the flowers were wilted and boiled down, turning into a beautiful reddish-purple liquid.

Tall goldenrod is a weed that blooms everywhere in Fall season. It has small yelow flowers, and when boiled, it turns into a golden-yellow liquid.

Green tea is something found in almost every home in my area. I look forwars to drinking the new tea every year. Since there were tea leaves from the recent tea picking and some finely powdered leaves left over, I decided to boil them and use them for dyeing.

The liquid turned into a deep tea green color. By the way, if it is used aluminum to mordant the liquid, a brown pigment comes out. So that's wht tea equals brown.

Podcarpus can be eaten. Remove the green color parts and boiled. So clear pink liquid comes out!

4. Mordant (Baking soda y lemon)

ingredientes

• Soy milk
• Water
• cotton
• linen

recipe

1.-Boil the plants to extract the dye.

2-Add calcium carbonate (or cellulose) to the boiled extract.

3-Add a mordant solution.

4-Strain the mixture through a filter.

5. Results of Ph control

Used the baking soda (alcali) and lemon(acidic) for pH control.

When lemon liquid was added, the color became lighter. And when it was dyed, it turned a color with no red pigment.

Even when soda was added, the color didn't change much. However, when dyed, it turned into a slightly brighter color compared to when dyed with something not controlled.

About the ph controll of the tall goldenrod liquid, when the lemon was added, the liquid was turned into a brighter color (clear). And the soda was added, it was also turned into brighter but more green. Then it was dyed using the 2 kinds of mordant liquid, the colores were not so diferent. (very light yellow)

With tea,by controlling the pH, the color gradually changed and dyed differently in subtle ways. The liquid with lemon juice, on the other hand, dyed a bit darker.

With Podcarpus, adjusting the pH of the mordant solution also made a difference. When it was made acidic (by adding lemon), it dyed more intensely.

6. Make pigments

ingredientes

• Soy milk
• Water
• cotton
• linen

recipe

1.-Boil the plants to extract the dye.

2- Add calcium carbonate (or cellulose) to the boiled extract.

3- Add a mordant solution.

4- Strain the mixture through a filter.

The pigment I made is part of a friend's project. She made more than 70 colores with such number of materiales! Dissolve the pigment in water and used it as part of a painting. The pigment was filtered and then placed on a car's front windshield to dry under the intense sunlight. After making the pigments, an artist painted a hude painting with 70 colores and more for the art festival.

Fin.