C AT EG O R Y: DY E

J U LY 1 5 , 2 0 1 2

Red, naturally

Left to right: linen fabric, silk fabric, wool yarn and cotton yarn. Top to bottom: iron, copper, tin and alum
mordants, undyed

Some more samples to share from my Fibre Arts with Natural Dyes class – this time,
red. To achieve these shades of red, we used cochineal from Maiwa Supply in
Vancouver. Cochineal is unique among the natural dyes we’ve been using in class in
that it isn’t a plant but an insect. The bodies of female insects of the species
Dactylopius, which live on the prickly pear cactus native to Mexico, Central and South
America and the Canary Islands, are ground using a mortar and pestle or dedicated
spice/coffee grinder. Cochineal is also widely used in food, cosmetics and drugs – you
may remember some of the press Starbucks got lately, which resulted in the company
promising to phase out use of the insect. This article from Scientic American is a good
read if you’re interested in learning more.

It’s a tough one for me to personally take a stance on. There’s the argument of
synthetic red colourings vs. natural, insect-based colour, and the environmental and
health impacts of both. I’m interested in exploring other sources of red as well, such as
Brazilwood, but I suppose what I’m learning is that these natural dyes all have their
impact and industry. Is harvesting Brazilwood better? is using a synthetic dye better?
It’s a complex issue.

Wool yarn, left to right: iron, copper, tin and alum mordants, undyed
Silk fabric, left to right: iron, copper, tin and alum mordants, undyed

Cotton yarn, left to right: iron, copper, tin and alum mordants, undyed
Linen fabric, left to right: iron, copper, tin and alum mordants, undyed

It’s pretty wild to see the difference in uptake in the cellulose bre samples (cotton and
linen) and protein bre samples (wool and silk). This was with 6% wog (weight of goods)
cochineal that had been steeping for seven hours before we dyed. I’m curious to see
what a longer dip would result in.

[Photos courtesy of Christopher]

JUNE 17, 2012

Yellow, naturally
Left to right: cotton yarn, linen fabric, silk fabric and wool yarn

Can you believe that onion skins with four different mordants produced this amazing
variety of colour? Week two of my Fibre Arts with Natural Dyes course was all about
yellow, using onion skins to achieve these particular shades.

Our instructor, Chung-Im Kim, collected over 200 g of onion skins, which is a whole lot
more than you might think! We set up four different dye baths, each with a different
mordant – a chemical that enables a bond between the dyestuff and bre – alum and
tin (brightening), and copper and iron (dulling).
Undyed sample of cotton and wool yarn, and linen and silk fabric

Alum mordant and onion skins dyestuff

Tin mordant and onion skins dyestuff

Copper mordant and onion skins dyestuff

Iron mordant and onion skins dyestuff

The bres I used were Naturelle 10 Ply Aran wool, the Malian cotton that I blogged
about last week, some silk fabric that Chung-Im supplied and linen fabric that I picked
up at G&S Dye. I washed the bre at home with Soak, and then again at the studio with
non-ionic TNA soap. We left our samples in the dye baths for about an hour at medium
heat (stirring regularly), then rinsed well with warm water, and washed again with TNA.
Wool yarn, left to right: iron, copper, tin and alum mordants, undyed

Silk fabric, left to right: iron, copper, tin and alum mordants, undyed
Linen fabric, left to right: iron, copper, tin and alum mordants, undyed

Cotton yarn, left to right: iron, copper, tin and alum mordants, undyed

Next week, red!

JUNE 9, 2012

Malian Cotton

I felt the urge to share some undyed Malian cotton that I picked up at Romni Wools this
week. It’s just too pretty and I’m about to dive into it and disturb its neat appearance.
Romni’s basement is literally wall to wall and 轴oor to ceiling cone yarn and 轴eece. I have
to admit, I fell for this Malian cotton because it comes on a stick. I didn’t spend too
much time pondering other options.
I’ve started a continuing ed Fibre Arts with Natural Dyes class at OCAD U and am
preparing my materials for next week: wool and cotton yarns, and linen and silk fabrics.
The course runs six weeks so I’ll be sure to share what I’m learning. This coming week,
yellow!

The yarn is pictured on bookhou’s laurel tea towel, which I love. They’re made of 55%
hemp and 45% organic cotton – perfect for napkins and tea towels!

I have some knits to share as well, but as it’s inching towards 30 degrees here it feels
kind of silly to be modelling wool knits. I don’t really vary my knitting projects by
season. Do you?

Until next time – enjoy the weekend!

AU G U S T 1 4 , 2 0 0 9

Indigo
I’ve been doing some very belated Spring-cleaning and came across these fantastic
indigo-dyed fabrics that my knitting partner for life brought back for me from Togo. I’ve
had them for at least seven years and have yet to nd the perfect project for them.
They’re so beautiful with such deep, rich colour, and hold so many memories of a dear
friend being far away. I’m not sure that I’ll ever be able to cut into them!

They were in the back of my mind when I was in Vancouver last weekend, and inspired
me to pick up a natural indigo dye kit at Maiwa Supply.
Indigo has likely been in use longer than any other dye and grows in India, China,
Indonesia and South America. Dyeing with it is reminiscent of a high school chemistry
experiment. You have to remove all of the oxygen from the alkaline dye bath before the
indigo will penetrate the material or bre. Then, once removed from the dye bath, the
indigo reacts with the oxygen in the air and returns to blue from green.
I’ve only dyed with indigo once, as part of Julie Sinden’s natural dyeing workshop. It was
like magic, seeing the indigo turn from blue to green to blue again. My shibori sampler
can be seen above. Maybe the word ‘sampler’ is a bit strong; I used quarters and nails to
get these tie-dyed effects. Shibori is a Japanese resist dyeing technique that uses tying
or stitching. It looks like the fabric from Togo was stitched to get the striping and tied
for the oval pattern.

I dyed some merino rovings as well and used my drop spindle to spin and ply it. This was
also a Spring-cleaning discovery. My spindle was buried beneath balls of yarn, with the
plied merino waiting patiently to be wound off.

HAND/EYE magazine (a new discovery) has some great articles on West African indigo
dyeing traditions; namely Benin and Mali. They also have an indigo vat recipe provided
by Michele Wipplinger, founder of the Earthues natural dye shop in Seattle. More
generally, Jenny Dean (author of the sadly out of print Wild Colour), has a blog devoted
to the art of natural dyeing. Plenty of inspiration and tips here! You too could have a
living, breathing indigo vat in your studio, or in my case, bedroom.