Before dyeing with natural dyes you need to prepare the materials with a mordanting process. The mordanting process prepare the fibers to permanently bond with natural dye. The most common mordants are mineral salts and they are used to fix the dye color to the fibers.
The procedure consist in soaking the fibers/yarns/fabrics in a mordanting bath, in the traditional way made in hot water.
The main steps are: calculating the mordant quantity, dissolving into the hot water bath, soaking the fibers/yarns/fabrics for some time, rinsing before proceeding with the dyeing.
The amount of mordant is calculated based off a percentage of the weight of the dry fibers/yarn/fabrics.
The recommended mordant for animal fibers as silk, wool, alpaca and cashmere is “potassium alum”. We suggest an amount of 25% of the weight of the dry fibers/yarn/fabric.
For plant fibers as cotton, linen, bamboo we recommend “potassium alum” and “sodium carbonate”. We suggest an amount of 20% of the weight of the dry fibers/yarns/fabrics for “potassium alum” and 10% of the weight of the dry fibers/yarns/fabrics for “sodium carbonate”.
For your safety we suggest to wear dusk mask, gloves and apron during the making, to keep separately the dyes stuff and the kitchen utensils and to keep kids and animals away from the working area.
TOOLS
cooking heater, stainless steel pot, kitchen scale, bowl, spoon, cooking thermometer, basin, gloves, dust musk
EXAMPLE: to mordant 100 gr of silk, wool or other animal fibers you need 25 gr of potassium alum.
NOTES
If possible, leave the fibers/yarns/fabrics to soak in the mordant solution overnight to let them cool. After rinsing well, you can dye it straightaway or dry it for further use.
To save water the bath can be used up to 3 times by adding the quantity of mordant required for every session of mordating.
TOOLS
cooking heater, stainless steel pot, kitchen scale, bowl, spoon, cooking thermometer, basin, gloves, dust musk
EXAMPLE: to mordant 100 gr of silk, wool or other animal fibers you need 25 gr of potassium alum.
NOTES
If possible leave the fibers/yarns/fabrics to soak in the mordant solution overnight to let them cool. After rinsing well, you can dye it straightaway or dry it for further use.
To save water the bath can be used up to 3 times by adding the quantity of mordant required for every session of mordating.
