Printed & Painted

Textiles of India


BY: RUCHI SARDANA
Natural Dyes
Making dyes from common plants is not a new thing. It is, in fact,
how we first got colour. Our ancestors knew they could extract
certain colours from certain plants, such as yellow from goldenrod
or purple from berries. Although commercial dyes are simpler,
many long to return to doing things the natural way.

Did you know that a great source for natural dyes can be found
right in your own back yard! Roots, nuts and flowers are just a few
common natural ways to get many colours. Yellow, orange, blue,
red, green, brown and grey are available.
Natural Dyes
Comprise those colorants dyes & pigments that are
obtained from animal or vegetable matter without chemical
processing.

The name natural dye covers all the dyes derived from the
plants, insect and minerals i.e. derived from natural resources.
History of Natural Dyes
Natural dyes are as old as textiles themselves.

Man has always been interested in colours; the art of dyeing
has a long past and many dyes go back into the prehistory.

Practiced during the Bronze age in Europe

China: in 2600 BC.

History of Natural Dyes
Egypt: chemical tests of red fabrics found in the tomb of king
Tutankhamen alizarin.

Alaxendar the great Purple Robes dating to 540 BC, when
he conquered Susa, the persian capital.

Brazil- Named after the Brazilwood found
Henna used even before 2500 BC.

Saffron Mentioned in Bible.

Primitive men used to crush berries to colour mud for his cave
paintings & used plant dye stuff to colour animal skin, their own skin
during religious wars, festivals.

Dyes might have been discovered accidentally, but their use has
become so much a part of mans customs.
History of Natural Dyes
Sources Of
Natural Dyes
Shades Of RED
- Elderberry - red
- Red leaves will give a reddish brown color I use salt to set the dye.
- Sumac (fruit) - light red
- Sycamore (bark)- red
- Dandelion (root)
- Beets - deep red
- Bamboo - turkey red
- Crab Apple - (bark) - red/yellow
- Rose (hips)
- Chokecherries
- Madder (root) - red
- Hibiscus Flowers (dried)
- Kool-aid
- Canadian Hemlock - (bark) reddish brown
- Japanese Yew - (heartwood) - brown dye
- Wild ripe Blackberries
- Brazilwood
- St. John's Wort - (whole plant) soaked in alcohol - red
- Bedstraw (root) - red
Madder roots cut for dye preparation
Shades Of YELLOW/WHEAT
- Bay leaves - yellow
- Barberry (bark) - yellow
- Saffron (stigmas) - yellow - set with Alum.
- Safflower (flowers, soaked in water) - yellow
- Sassafras (bark)- yellow
- Red Clover (whole blossom, leaves and stem) alum mordant - gold
- Yellow cone flower (whole flower head); chrome mordant; Brass to Greeney-Brass.
- Onion (skins) - set with Alum.
- Alfalfa (seeds) - yellow
- Marigold (blossoms) - yellow
- Heather - (plant) - yellow
- St. John's Wort - (flowers & leaves) - gold/yellow
- Burdock
- Celery (leaves)
- Golden Rod (flowers)
- Sumac (bark) - The inner pith of Sumac branches can produce a super bright yellow
color.
- Oregon-grape roots - yellow
Shades Of Yellow/Wheat
- Cameleon plant (golden)
- Mimosa - (flowers) yellow
- Dandelion flower
- Daffodil flower heads (after they have died); alum mordant
- Tea ( ecru color)
- Yellow, Curly, Bitter, or Butter Dock (despite various leaf shapes, all have a bright yellow
taproot) gives you a yellow/flesh color.
- White mulberry tree (bark) Cream color onto white or off-white wool. Alum mordant.
- Paprika -pale yellow - light orange)
- Peach (leaves) - yellow
- Beetroot (yellow) (alum & K2Cr2O7)
- Turmeric (spice) --bright yellow
Dahlia Flowers (Red, yellow, orange flowers) make a lovely yellow to orange dye for wool.
- Mulga Acacia -(flowers) - yellow
- Sunflowers - (flowers) - yellow
- Dyer's Greenwood (shoots) - yellow
- Tansy (tops) - yellow
- Yarrow - yellow and gold

Shades Of ORANGE
- Alder Bark - (orange)
- Bloodroot will give a good orange to reddish orange color.
- Sassafras (leaves)
- Onion (skin) - orange
- Lichen (gold)
- Carrot - (roots) orange
- Lilac (twigs) - yellow/orange
- Barberry (mahonia sp.) yellow orange (with alum) very strong & permanent.
Any part of the plant will work.
- Giant Coreopsis (Coreopsis gigantea) Yields bright permanent orange with
alum.
- Turmeric dyed cloth will turn orange or red if it is dipped in lye.
- Pomagrante with alum anywhere from orange to khaki green.
- Butternut - (seed husks) - orange
- Eucaluptus - (leaves and bark) beautiful shades of tan, orange and brown.
Shades Of BLUE-PURPLE
- Dogwood (bark) - blue
- Woad (first year leaves). Woad gives a pale to mid blue colour depending on the type of
fabric and the amount of woad used.
- Mulberries (royal purple)
- Elderberries (lavender)
- Saffron - (petals) blue/green
- Grapes (purple)
- Blueberries
- Cornflower - (petals) blue dye with alum, water
- Cherry (roots)
- Blackberry (fruit) strong purple
- Japanese indigo (deep blue)
- Indigo (leaves) - blue
- Red Cedar Root (purple)
- Raspberry -(fruit) purple/blue
- Dogwood - (fruit) greenish-blue
- Oregon Grape -(fruit) blue/purple
- Purple Iris - blue
Handspun wool dyed with woad
Shades Of GREEN
- Artemisia species provide a range of greens from baby's breath to nettle green.
- Tea Tree - (flowers) green/black
- Spinach (leaves)
- Sorrel (roots) - dark green
- Lilac - (flowers) - green
- Camellia - (pink, red petals) - green
- Snapdragon - (flowers) - green
- Grass (yellow green)
- Red Pine (needles) green
- Larkspur - green - alum
- Purple Milkweed - (flowers & leaves) - green
- Lily-of-the-valley (light green) be careful what you do with the spent dye bath. The plant
is toxic so try to avoid pouring it down the drain into the water supply.
- Red onion (skin) (a medium green, lighter than forest green)
- Peach - (leaves) yellow/green
- Coneflower (flowers) - green
- Peppermint - dark kakhi green color
- Chamomile (leaves) - green
NOTE-Green can also
be achieved by
coating Blue over
yellow dyed fabric
Shades Of GRAY - BLACK
- Iris (roots)
- Sumac (leaves) (Black)
- Carob pod (boiled) will give a gray to cotton
- Oak galls - makes a good black dye.
- Sawthorn Oak - (seed cups) - black
- Walnut (hull) - black
- Rusty nails & vinegar - set with Alum.
Mordants
Mordants are adhesive compounds that fix plant yes to fibers
and can be added to the dye bath, or a separate bath, before
or after dyeing.
Chemical mordants, such as ammonium hydroxide and
chrome, are caustic and can cause skin and respiratory-tract
irritation.
Chrome is toxic to kidneys and a potential human carcinogen,
and chrome-based mordant baths must be treated as
household hazardous waste.
Non-chemical mordants, such as rhubarb leaves, staghorn
sumac (as opposed to poison sumac) leaves and oak galls,
work just as well, but these can also be harmful.
Mordants
Rhubarb leaves, a natural source for the chemical mordant
oxalic acid, are poisonous if consumed in large quantities, so
these have to be kept away from children and pets.
Alum and urea are safer chemical mordants, but take care in
handling alum as it can cause skin irritation.
Two of the most effective mordants, copper & chrome, are red
listed.
Limits are also imposed on the discharge of heavy metals in the
effluent.
How a Mordant Functions?
The word Mordant has been derived from the Latin word
mordere which means to bite.
The mordant bites the surface of a fibre so that a dye can
sink in.
It combines with a fibre & dye, both forming a link between
dye and fibre which otherwise has no affinity for the dye.
It forms with a dye complex which is insoluble in water and
thus gives a fast colour.
Types of dyes
1. Substantive dyes, which require no mordant

2. Adjective/mordant dyes, which require auxiliary substances
to become attached to the fiber.
Substantive dyes
Substantive dyes are used by simply combining the dyestuff, usually in
a quantity equal to or twice that of the weight of the fiber, with the
fiber (or fabric) and simmering for an extended period of time. An
example is turmeric, the spice, which works on cotton as well as on
wool; others include onion skins, walnut husks, and tea. Substantive
dyes, if made from edible materials, have the advantage of allowing
the use of a regular cooking pot for dyeing in; most dyes, even natural
dyes, and most mordants, require that a dye pot be devoted to their
use, never to be used for cooking again. Another word for a
substantive dye is direct; note that there are also a great many
synthetic direct dyes.
Adjective/Mordant Dyes
Most natural dyeing is done with the use of mordants, most
commonly heavy metal ions, but sometimes tannins. (Tannins are
particularly important in dyeing cotton and other cellulose fibers.) The
mordant allows many natural dyes which would otherwise just wash
out to attain acceptable washfastness. A mordant remains in the
fiber permanently, holding the dye. Each different metal used as a
mordant produces a different range of colors for each dye.
Some of the metals, such as chromium and tin, are extremely toxic.
Even copper and iron mordants can be quite dangerous if misused.
(Iron is nutritionally necessary, but iron pills are a major cause of
accidental poisoning deaths among children.) Alum is the most
popular mordant; though less toxic than the other metal ions, it is an
irritant, and may be harmful if ingested.
Display of natural-dyed silk
PRINTING
A process for producing a pattern on yarns, warp, fabric, or
carpet by any of a large number of printing methods. The color
or other treating material, usually in the form of a paste, is
deposited onto the fabric which is then usually treated with
steam, heat, or chemicals for fixation.

There are three different printing 'styles' used to produce
patterned effects on textiles, these being termed direct,
discharge and resist.
Style Of Printing
Direct Printing Style

This method involves the direct application of the colour design to
the fabric and is the most common method of textile printing. The
dyes used for direct printing are those which would normally be
used for a conventional dyeing of the fabric type concerned.

E.g. Sanganer printing
Sanganeri print
Style Of Printing
Resist Printing Style

In this method of printing the fabric is first printed with a substance called a 'resist'
which will prevent the dye from being taken up in a subsequent dyeing process.
The resist functions by either mechanically preventing the dye from reaching
local areas of the fabric or by chemically reacting with the dye or the fibre, to
prevent adsorption.
A printing method in which the design can be produced: (1) by applying a resist
agent in the desired design, then dyeing the fabric, in which case, the design
remains white although the rest of the fabric is dyed; or (2) by including a resist
agent and a dye in the paste which is applied for the design, in which case, the
color of the design is not affected by subsequent dyeing of the fabric
background.

E.g. Bhagru printing
Bhagru print
Style Of Printing
Mordant Resist Styles

The fabric is prepared and mordanted. The dye is painted or printed on this
fabric. The areas, which come in contact with the dye, will show colour and thus
form the design.

Another way is to paint or print the mordant and then immerse the fabric in the
dye bath. The printed areas will show colour and thus form the design.

E.g. Ajrakh and kalam kari.
kalam kari.