4. BioChromes¶

Research¶

I never usually work with dyeing. I’ve always made the deliberate choice to work with wool in monochrome, focusing on volume and texture instead of color. The only color that sometimes appears in my work is violet, the same violet used to mark the sheep’s fleece before the annual transhumance, allowing each family to recognize their own flock in the mountains. This violet blends subtly with the beige fibers, appearing gently across the surfaces and reconnecting the material to its territory.

For this week, I thought it would be a great opportunity to connect the material of my childhood with my daily environment, Brussels, where I have lived for six years. During a walk around La Green Fabric, we collectively gathered local flowers and plants such as chrysanthemums, prunus, tansy, and thistles. We then visited the Brussels dye garden, where we met one of the volunteers from the association “Nuances de Plantes”, which manages this place full of history.

She explained the story of the neighborhood, which used to be closely linked to the Brussels dyeing industry, since many workshops were located in the area. Through Belgian historical tapestries, we can trace a connection between their colors and the surrounding vegetation.

This passionate woman shared many anecdotes that would take too long to recount here, but she deeply inspired me, especially through the strong bond between plants and materials made possible by natural dyeing.

References & Inspiration¶

I have to admit, this week I didn’t have many references, apart from my dyeing book “Teindre avec les plantes” by Ninon Gavarian, which has been my companion throughout the week. I’m sorry to say it only exists in French, but fortunately for me! This week was full of very specific vocabulary that I didn’t know, so the detailed illustrations and explanations in the book really helped me understand the processes better.

Annabelle told me about WHOLE, a collective of committed women working around natural dyeing, which I found very inspiring. I also wanted to highlight the work of some friends of mine who practice this technique and whose approach I really admire.

Tools¶

Large pots
Spoons
Gloves
Bowls, Glass Jars, Containers
Steamer
String
Coffee Filters, Textiles
Dehydrator
Clothes dryer
Balance

Process and workflow¶

First, Stephanie showed us a few examples and some reference books. Then we started our first tests using red onion peels. I cut them into small pieces and boiled them in a saucepan with water.

On white sheets of paper, we placed transparent containers to better observe the color transformations. We poured the onion dye into each container and then added a different active ingredient to each one, in order to see how the colors would change. The active ingredients we used were: Citric acid

Citric acid
Washing soda
Borax
Cream of tartar
Epsom salt
Iron sulfate
Alum
Tannin

Once the new colors appeared, we soaked pre-mordanted fabrics in each solution to keep a trace of these first results, before cleaning everything up.

Ingredients¶

Citric acid, Washing soda, Borax, Cream of tartar, Epsom salt, Iron sulfate, Alum, Tannin
Gum Arabic
Manech Wool
Coton
Linen

Mordant and preparations¶

First, I had to mordant my wool, so I followed the instructions from my book. I started by weighing the material to determine the right amount of alum. Then, I washed the wool with Marseille soap, gradually increasing the water temperature to avoid thermal shock and prevent the wool from felting. Once rinsed, I placed it in a new bath at around 40°C with alum, and let it soak overnight as the water slowly cooled down.

Once we had collected our plants, we dried them in the dehydrator, then I cut them into small pieces with scissors. Each plant was placed in its own small jar to make the upcoming dyeing process easier.

Process¶

Heat water with the plants and let them simmer for about 30 minutes to infuse properly.
Carry out small dye tests, as we did with the red onion, to observe the range and diversity of colors from each plant, then dip a small wool sample into the most interesting results.
Dry the samples in the dehydrator, not ideal for fibers, but it saves time!
Filter the dye bath to remove any plant residues, keeping only the liquid.
Observe the results in our color chart, then select one shade per plant to dye a larger amount of wool.
Prepare a new dye bath, add the chosen mordant or modifier to achieve the desired tone, and immerse the fibers for at least one hour to allow them to absorb the color fully.

Once my fibers were dyed and dry, I brushed and carded them to create a Manech wool batt reflecting the colors of Brussels, using shades from local plants. The first pass through the carder was not completely even, so I did a second pass. In the end, however, I actually liked the front-and-back effect of the wool.

In addition to the wool batt, I now have a beautiful color chart of various shades for potential future projects.

Ink¶

I wasn’t able to be there during the ink preparation; it was made by Carmen and Annabel using :

150 ml of red aspen catkins dye
5 teaspoons of agar-agar

I was only present for the second recipe, which used gum arabic and logwood tree dye :

300 ml of logwood tree dye
2 teaspoons of gum arabic

We let the decoction reduce, then poured and stirred the diluted gum arabic in hot water, leaving it on the heat for 20 minutes.

Later, I was able to use this ink to test different screen printing techniques. I had fun experimenting with lines and tape.

Recycling the dye into pigments¶

As seen with Cécilia a few days earlier, we followed her tutorial using Prunus to obtain a pigment. For this, we used :

300 ml of dyed marigold
100 g of alum, diluted in a little warm water
20 g of baking soda

Once mixed with a whisk and brought to emulsion, we let the decoction reduce by half, then poured it into a large beaker, filtering it through a piece of cloth. Add the alum, then gradually the baking soda, mixing with a whisk (holding the pan with your hands around the handle). When the mixture was homogeneous, we let it settle for 4 hours. Filter again using a finer mesh fabric, then let it dry completely. Finally, collect the dry residues in a mortar, grind them, and store them in a box.

How to dye with indigo ?¶

Select the fabrics, they don’t need to be mordanted !
Create folds or gathers using a thread to isolate the areas that will resist the dye.
Wet the fabric, then immerse it in the first dye bath for 2 minutes. Rinse, then unfold the fabric slightly to allow oxidation.
Repeat with a second bath for 5 minutes, rinse, and unfold again.
Do a third and final bath for 10 minutes, then rinse several times to remove the excess indigo.
Cut the threads to release the fabric and reveal the pattern.
Hang the textile to dry.