5/6/2020 Using Plants as Natural Dyes

Using Plants as Natural Dyes

By: Petra Guenthner Johnson

Abstract

This web page is intended to introduce the process of

using plant pigments to dye animal and plant fibers.

Introduction

Creating and using plant-based-dyes is a wonderful way to gain an understanding of the biology and the
chemistry at work in the plants around us.

Sources of natural dyes are everywhere. Dyes can be extracted from roots, foliage, nuts, berries and flowers.
Until the mid-19th century plants were the primary source of dye. The process of natural dyeing became
obsolete with the discovery that dye pigments could be produced through modern chemistry. Dyes produced by
chemical means are more easily transferred to fibers, do not require as much time in preparation, and stand up
better to repeated washing and exposure to sunlight.

Today natural sources of dyes are used by artisans and crafters. Natural dyes are desirable mainly because of
the quality of color that can be created with them. Dyes extracted from plants contain many different pigments,
and thus are not the "pure" forms of pigment used in today's chemical dyes. These impurities create rich and
sometimes unexpected color, that can never be duplicated. For many the process of extracting the dyes from
their natural sources connects them to their work, and gives them control over each step of creation.

There are many methods used to extract dyes from plants and use them to color fibers. For the purposes of this
web page I will be describing the mordant method used to dye cotton fibers.
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The Dyeing Process

Gathering Materials

Dyes are produced by plant pigments. Some plants, such as indigo and madder (which are perhaps
the two most famous dye plants), contain far greater amounts of pigment than others. The amount
of pigment in each of plant is dependent not only on the genetics of each plant, but also the stage
of development, and growing conditions.

(When gathering materials the Bibliography and Web page references are good ways to find out about the
different types of dye plants. Take into consideration which plants are available and the safety precautions you
need to take as some dye plant are poisonous.)

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5/6/2020 Using Plants as Natural Dyes

For my dye-bath I used:

Onions skins
Marigold blossoms (Tagetes erecta, Tagetes patula)
Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare)
Solidago (Solidago spp.)
Chrysanthemum blossoms (Chrysanthemum
morifolium)
Sunflower heads (Helianthus annuus)
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The Dye-Bath

The dye-bath is the solution of pigments and water used to transfer the
dye to the fibers:
In this dye-bath some of the active pigments are flavonoids called, quercitin and
chalcones. The function of flavonoids is not completely understood, but it is
known that they absorb UV-B light which plays a role in the defense and
reproduction functions of a plant.

Plant material in bowl before chopping.

To Make the Dye-Bath

Remove the desired portion of the plant

Chop or tear the blossoms, leaves, etc. apart to expose more
surface area
Combine in a large kettle
Add enough water to cover the plant material
Simmer on range until the plant material looks faded and dye
has transferred to the water (about 1 hour)
Plant material ready to be simmered.
On the spoon you can see the dye
Strain out left-over plant material and discard
pigments already beginning to The remaining liquid is your dye
transfer to the water.

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page
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process

Preparing the Fibers

Types of Fibers

There are three general types of fibers; synthetic, animal and plant. Natural dyes do not adhere to
synthetic fibers. Animal fibers are made up of protein, which is loosely structured and interacts
well with other substances. Plant fibers are made of cellulose, which is more tightly structured and

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does not like to interact with other substances. (If you are using animal fibers please use a
reference source as the following steps will vary.)

Washing the fibers

Simmer the cotton material in a solution of dish soap. This removes any oil, wax, or dirt that might
interfere with the dye adhering to the fibers. Risne well.

Mordanting fibers

Mordanting fibers causes the dye to be chemically trapped on the fibers, so the dyed fabric will not
loose its color. Mordanting, put simply it means electrically charging the material to be dyed with
a metal cation. This cation then attracts and traps the color.

To mordant the fibers:

Fill a kettle with 2 quarts water

Add 1 Tb alum and 1 tsp baking soda
Add cotton material
Bring to a boil and simmer for 2 hours
Let cotton material cool off and soak in alum solution for several hours
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Dyeing

Place the cotton material in the prepared dye-bath

Bring dye-bath to a boil for 5 minutes
Simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally
Let cotton material soak overnight
Take cotton material out of dye-bath
Drain off excess dye Fabric just beginning to
Rinse thoroughly simmer in dye-bath.
Allow to dry

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Final color of the cotton material

after a thorough rinsing.
(Beginning fabirc was bleached white.)

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Bibliography

Buchanan, Rita. A Weaver's Garden: Growing Plants for Natural Dyes and Fibers. Dover ed. 1999.
Lesch, Alma. Vegetable Dyeing. Watson-Guptill Publications. 1970.

Web site Links

Potential for Colourants for Plant Sources in England and Wales

A research paper that provides an explanation of chemical sources for pigments.

KOEK Homepage
Discusses the quality of different processes used in natural dyeing.

Botanical.com
An index of descriptions and properties of different plants.

Maiwa Handprints
A source for buying natural dye pigments, and links to other information on natural dyeing.
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I would love to hear your questions and comments.

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