4. BIOCHROMES¶

RESEARCH¶

After a trip to Oaxaca a few years ago I have been fascinated by Cochineal and its ability to produce very vibrant shades of red. they gave us a demonstration where they would place some cochineal in our hands and depending on the ph value of our skin it would change from a deep purple to and orange-ish red color.

I have always wanted to experiment with dyeing using this creature.

What I like about dying with natural sources is your control over the final color / pigment.

REFERENCES¶

photo by Maiwa https://naturaldyes.ca/maiwa-guide-to-natural-dyes-pdf

TOOLS¶

For dying the tools are as listed:

Large dye pots

Natural Dye sources: Cabbage, Beans, logwood, Onions, carob, etc..

Mordants: Iron Salt, Alum, Baking Soda, Vinegar, Tannins

15cm X 15cm Fabric Sauares: Linen, Cotton , Viscose, Silk

STEP BY STEP TO DYING¶

Prepare the Fabric: Pre-wash textiles to remove residues. Soak in a mordant solution based on your desired dye color.
Extract the Dye: Simmer chopped natural materials in water for 30–60 minutes until the liquid is richly colored. Strain out solids.
Dye the Fabric: Submerge pretreated fabric in the dye bath. Heat gently for 1–2 hours, stirring occasionally.
Rinse and Dry: Rinse dyed textiles in cold water until it runs clear. Hang dry away from direct sunlight.

RECYCLING DYES¶

With what ever leftover dye bath you have, you add potassium aluminum sulfate (PAS or alum), baking soda (sodium carbonate) and alow to bubble and fizz.

After you wait for the pigment to settle towards the bottom, you then strain the liquid (with coffee filter / cheese cloth) and and bake / dry the remaining sediment until it forms a dry powdered pigment.

DYES INTO PIGMENTS AND PAINTS¶

Once you have your powdered pigment you can then turn it into inks and paints.

Preheat your leftover dye, and add a gum or binder agent. Most commonly Arabic Gum.

Do this in small stages. While there is a generally accepted ratio, I feel as though it is better to add small bits at a time to get the desired thickness/ consistency depending on use case or binder choice.

RECIPES¶

We as a class made a variety of different dyes mixing different mordant ratios and different mordant types (iron vs alum)

The recipes are within the labels in my pictures, however we as a class are planning on creating a codified "pantone" log of all of the different recipes, so i will add that in its entirety once compiled.

I would also refer to the references listed above for more accurate and detailed recipes

STEP BY STEP NATURAL DYEING¶

Natural Dyeing – Quick Step-by-Step Guide

Prepare Fabric

Wash fabric to remove sizing/oils (use mild soap).

Mordant the fabric (improves dye absorption):

Common mordant: Alum (10–15% of fabric weight).

Simmer fabric in mordant solution for 1 hour.

Let dry or proceed wet, depending on dye method.

Prepare the Dye Bath

Chop/grate plant material (e.g. onion skins, madder, turmeric).

Simmer in water for 30–60 min to extract color.

Strain out solids, keep liquid as your dye bath.
Dye the Fabric

Wet fabric (if not already wet).

Place in warm dye bath.

Simmer gently for 30–60 min, stirring occasionally.

Let sit (optional) for deeper color.
Rinse & Dry

Remove fabric, let cool.

Rinse in cool water until it runs clear.

Hang to dry in shade (sun can fade color).

🌿 Tips

Test with fabric scraps before full dyeing.

Some dyes (like indigo) require special fermentation.

Tannin-rich plants (like tea) can act as mordants on their own.

RESULTS¶

Here are the results from the different mixtures of dye sources, different mordants, and ph changing acids and bases.

Here are some closer photographs of some of the colors, refer to the above for more visible labels.

After the intial dye trials, I decided to make a dye as black as I could, by mixing leftover dye bath solutions.

While trying to achieve a black dye I combined Cabbage, Onion, Logwood, Carob, lots of iron salt, and a little dish soap to create a combination dye.

These small test strips were the result.They were all dyed using my black dye and i feel with over-dyeing I could achieve a nice rich black color. some were dyed twice (the darker ones) but they were all dyed with the same dye bath at the same time. the difference in colour most likely being due to different fabric/textile properties.

I plan to progress this research to make a black dye from natural sources that is rich in color and has strong color fastness.