WORKSHOP REPORT

Natural Dyeing | Jaipur | June 17- 20, 2019

Workshop organized by Industree Crafts Foundation

Report by Prajna H R of Motifs of the Earth

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01. CONTEXT

The women (participants) are well versed with tying the knots (of bandhani craft) and the
printed designs are given to them for knotting. Apart from the knotting, rest of the process
are taken care by other artisans/agents and the larger margins are going to them. The overall
idea is to equip the women with all the skills required to carry out the complete tie and dye
process themselves and thus become self-sufficient, without having to deal with any third
party. Further with awareness and skill development they need to get ready to take on the
work orders for finished products.

02. WORKSHOP DETAILS

The workshop was conducted by Industree Crafts Foundation in collaboration with SEWA
Bharat.

Date June 17th to 20th, 2019 (Four-day workshop)

No. of participants 15 (women who completed the entire course)
Session duration per day 4 hours
Facilitator (Consultant) Prajna H R
Coordinator (Industree) Nisha
Venue Community hall, Shastri Nagar, Jaipur

OBJECTIVE

A four-day workshop to train the tie and dye women artisans with natural dyeing. Introducing
them to natural colours with a hands-on understanding of the complete process of dyeing,
while creating a range of dyed fabric samples.

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03. SCHEDULE/CURRICULUM (AS EXECUTED)
DAY TOPIC MODE
Day 01 • Formal Introduction
(17-06-19) • Introduction to natural dyes
• Importance of using natural dyes
• Understanding commonly used and locally
available dye ingredients
• Steps involved in dyeing and process of
scouring
• Organizing work groups and doing the Theory, Discussion
pretreatment of fabric (scouring) in groups, and practical
the scoured fabrics were kept overnight in (Process of dyeing
the soap bath. starting from

Day 02 • Thorough washing of the scoured fabric pretreatment to

(18-06-19) • Understanding mordanting and its process post dyeing

treatment)
• Treating the scoured fabrics in harda and
alum mordants
• Understanding the process of dyeing
• Dyeing the mordanted fabrics in Manjista
(01) and Annatto (02) in groups - Fabrics
were left in dye bath overnight.
• Washing the dyed fabrics in water and in
Day 03 reeta solution.
(19-06-19) • Identifying and understanding the
negatives from previous mordanted and
dyed samples.
• Dyeing the mordanted fabrics in
Pomegranate shell (03), Kattha (04), Palash

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 (05), Manjista TCR (06), Gammirevanchini
(07), Sappan (08)
• Fabrics were left in dye bath overnight.
Day 04 • Washing the dyed fabrics in water and in
(20-06-19) reeta solution.
• Dyeing the mordanted fabrics in Manjista +
Rathanjoth (09), Rathanjoth (10), Indian
Berberry (11) and Lac (12).
• Washing the dyed fabric.
• Going through the process and final
conclusions.

04. ON SITE PICTURES EXPLAINING THE PROCESS

DAY 01
Introduction

01

Scouring

02 03

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 DAY 02
Washing the scoured fabric

Mordanting with Harda Mordanting with Alum

01 01

02 02

03 03

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 04 04

Dyeing process

01 02

03 04

05

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 DAY 03
Washing the previous dyed fabrics

Dyeing, experimenting with more colours

Washing the previous dyed fabrics

DAY 04
Washing the previous dyed fabrics

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Dyeing, experimenting with more colours

05. SHADE CARD | DYED SAMPLES

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OBSERVATION FROM SAMPLES

• The colours were on the lighter side in spite of using good percentage of colour. This
could be because of various factors like quality of water, fiber type (we used cotton
fabric, in general natural dye results are better on silk and wool than on cotton.
Working with cotton is tricky and needs high precision), the dye ingredients were
boiled and used immediately due to time constrains (ideal situation would be to boil
the raw ingredients and keep it over night before using it for dyeing), required more
accuracy in pretreatments etc.
• There was certain amount of patchiness in the mordanted fabrics, especially the harda
treated fabrics. The fabrics had to be worked upon more during the process, needed
consistency.
• Could not achieve desired maroon shade upon mixing Manjista and Rathanjoth. We
did simultaneous dyeing.
• The first time we tried dyeing with Lac we had a failed attempt, the small dye particles
became sticky upon boiling. Next day we made few changes in process to achieve the
colour. The Lac colour has to be soaked in cold water for half an hour first and needs
to be filtered using three layers of net fabric. This solution goes through thorough
soaking and filtering for 3 times. Make sure no amount of tiny dye particles is
remaining in the dye bath. Only when sure take the dye bath for boiling.

06. IMPORTANT THINGS TO CONSIDER WRT NATURAL COLOURS

• Natural colours can be extracted from plant, animal and mineral source. The dyes can
be classified into substantive, vat and mordant dyes.
• Natural dyes work only on natural fibers such as cotton, silk, wool, jute etc. Does not
work with synthetic fabrics. The results are better on silk and wool compared to
cotton.
• The dye ingredients are very individualistic in nature, materials sourced from different
places will have varying strengths based on the conditions it is grown in. Therefore, it
is necessary to test the materials before hand to understand the strength. Also, the
dye ingredients give different result with different mordants.

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 • Water plays an important role in natural dyes, Normal PH required for dyeing is 7-8.
Dyes and fibers dye differently at different PH levels.
• Working with natural colours is tricky, achieving consistency and good result is
dependent on lot of factors. Quality of water, type of vessel used, moisture content in
the air, insufficient heat or too much heat, quality of dye stuff is some of the
influencing factors. Therefore, it becomes important to follow each and every stage of
procedure strictly and also pay attention to the influencing factors.

07. GENERAL PROCEDURE FOR DYEING FOR REFERENCE

(Consider the weight of the fabric to be 1kg. All the calculations are based on the weight of
the fiber - WOF)

01. SCOURING: Grey fabric (unprocessed) contains lot of impurities like fats, waxes, colouring
matter, starch etc. The first step is to get rid of all these impurities and make the fabric ready
for dyeing.

[The standard fabric and water ratio that we follow for cotton is 1:20, that is for every
one kg fabric we will need 20 liters of water. The water quantity can be slightly adjusted
depending on the type and thickness of fabric. However, follow the same adjusted quantity
throughout the process].

Consider WOF = 1 KG

Water required = 1:20 = 1 x 20 = 20 liters

Washing soda/ Soda ash = 1% of WOF = 10 grams

Colorless soap/ 501 bar soap = 20% of WOF = 20 grams.

Take 20 liters of water in a dyeing pot, add calculated amount of soda and soap to it. Put the
pot on the stove and boil the solution on a medium flame. Once the water starts to boil, wet
the fabric and immerse it in the solution (the fabric should be well within the water level).
Boil the fabric in this solution for an hour. Continuously stir, work with the fabric to ensure
evenness and to avoid burning of fabric. After an hour turn the stove off and let the fabric

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cool down in the solution overnight. Next day wash the fabric vigorously, by changing water
3 times. Ensure every bit of starch is washed out well. Rinse, Squeeze and dry the fabric.

Note: If we drop water droplets on our dry scoured fabric it needs to absorb the water
within 3 to 4 seconds and the water should not stand still on the fabric. If it does absorb
quickly, we can be sure that our fabric is ready for dyeing.

02. MORDANTING: Mordants help in fixing the colour better to the fabric, also helps in
achieving varied shades. Most commonly used ecofriendly, nontoxic mordants are harda
and alum. Harda gives deeper shades and alum gives lighter shades, they can be used in
accordance to our requirement. Also keep these initial treatment stages very clean to
ensure good dyeing results.

Consider WOF = 1 KG

Water required = 1:20 = 1 x 20 = 20 liters

Harda = 20-25% of WOF = 250grams (Considering 25%)

Alum = 30% of WOF = 300grams

a. Mordanting with Harda: Take 250 grams harda in a small pot, add sufficient water to
cover it and mix it well without any lumps. Bring it to a boil on the stove and then
rest it overnight (covered) in normal room temperature (idea is to extract as much
colour as possible from the raw ingredient). Next day give it a nice boil again for
about half an hour and filter the yellow solution using a net cloth. Add water to this
yellow decoction to make it total of 20 liters. Wet the scoured fabric and immerse it
in this harda solution for an hour. First 15 minutes continuously work with the fabric,
then stir and work with it every ten minutes. Make sure there are no patches as it
can’t be corrected later. This is a cold process. After an hour remove it and wash it
carefully in clean water once mildly (make sure there is no powder particles),
squeeze and dry the fabric. Next day wash it two three times well before taking it for
dyeing. Ensure the wet yellow fabric doesn’t come in contact with rust, harda reacts
with rust to form black immediately.
b. Mordanting with Alum: Follow the same process as harda, except that in this case
the percentage of ingredient needed changes and as alum dissolves easily in water it

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 is not necessary to leave it overnight. It can be boiled and used the same day, also do
not miss the filtering process as there will be impurities that we may not be able to
see (can create patches in later stages if we do not filter the solution). Also note
after the one-hour treatment just squeeze and dry the fabric without washing, Next
day wash it once mildly in clean water before taking it for dyeing. Do not over wash
as it will cause bleeding of alum.

NOTE: Apart from Harda and alum, iron is used extensively as mordant to achieve deeper
shades (will make the colour dull) in natural dyeing. Also, copper, chrome, tin is used as
mordants to create blueish and green tones, however most of them available in the market
are synthesized and are harmful. As less as 4% to 8% of these mordants is sufficient and the
quantity depends on what stage of dyeing it is being used. Needs special care while using
and disposing. They are used as mordants and also as additives post dyeing, based on the
desired shade and colour.

The vessel that is used for dyeing can act as an additional mordant. Using copper tin vessels
can brighten the colours and aluminum vessels with soda ash acts as alum. Therefore, to
achieve original dye colour it is advisable to use earthen or stainless-steel vessel.

03. DYEING: Follow the same process as harda, except that in this case the percentage of
ingredient needed changes (it can be anywhere between 20% to 80% depending on the raw
ingredient and the shade required). This is a hot process and not cold. Once the 20 liters dye
bath is ready, boil the mordanted fabric in it for 30 to 45 minutes depending on the required
shade. Continuously keep working with it to avoid patches. After the dyeing is complete,
turn the stove off and allow the fabric to cool in the dye bath (in normal room temperature)
for couple of hours or overnight before washing it.

Some of the commonly used dye ingredients are Kattha, Areca nut, Red Ochre, Bal harda,
Pomegranate outer shell, Turmeric, Marigold, Palash, Harshingar, Rathanjoth,
Manjista,Safflower, Sappan wood, Indigo, Indian berberry, Gammirevanchini, Onion peel,
Babool, Lac, Annato, Henna etc. The dye ingredients are available in both raw and powdered
form. Usually the powdered form is more concentrated than raw, needs to be checked for
strength before using. If the dye ingredient is in raw form make sure you pound it a bit and
make it into smaller size pieces before boiling it in water.

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OVERDYEING: is the process of taking fiber already dyed in one dye stuff and dyeing it with
something else. It can often produce much better colours than dyeing with one dyestuff
alone. For instance, dyeing a fiber in dark yellow and then overdyeing in red can achieve
beautiful oranges. Also, simultaneous dyeing is possible, in this case the fiber is dyed at a
time with two ingredients.

[Note: To achieve certain shades the already dyed fabric is treated (post dyeing) with
additives like citric acid, acetic acid, soda ash etc. This alters the PH of the dyed fibers].

PROCEDURE TO MAKE 15 LITRE BLACK SOLUTION: Take 15 liter of water in an earthen pot.
Add 1 kg powdered palm jaggery and 2kg iron nails (rust) to it. Mix all the ingredients well,
cover it with a lid and let the mixture ferment for 15 to 20 days. Stir it once every day. By
the end of 15 days froth would have got collected on top of the solution, at this stage it will
produce pungent smell. Once you see the froth and can get the smell, you know your black
solution is ready. The fermentation process is quicker in summer and slower in winter. The
solution will be light or dark brown in colour. To check, take a drop of this solution and drop
it on harda treated fabric. You will see the spot turning black, this signifies that your colour
is ready. This solution can be used in combination with other dye ingredients to achieve
deep range of colours.

04. WASHING: is final and very important step. The dyed fabric needs to be washed
thoroughly by changing the water 3 to 4 times, until the water is clear and the fabric is not
bleeding anymore. Before the final round of washing soak the fabric in reeta/soap nut (mild
detergent) solution for about half an hour. Beat, rinse and wash well in the solution. Finish it
of with final round of washing. This will ensure that all the excess colour is washed off from
the fibers. Squeeze and dry the fabric in shade.

The workshop has introduced the participants to the idea of natural dyeing and its
process. The next step would be to develop on the skill and work towards achieving
consistency with the colours.

END OF REPORT

THANK YOU
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