Today was spent preparing for the Saturday workshop, specifically gathering materials for naturally dyeing with buttercups! Something that I have learned while researching natural dyeing is that you have to prepare your fabric in a special way.
We sourced two 100% cotton t shirts from the thrift store to dye. Because our fabric is cellulose fabric (meaning made out of plant materials) we have to do three processes to prepare it to be dyed. First we have to scour the fabric. Scouring means to clean it very well using special sop and soda ash, to eliminate any oils on the fabric. After the fabric has been scoured, it must be given a tannin wash (yes just like the tannins you find in tea!), and then it must be given a mordant wash. The tannin and the mordants are so the dye will adhere to the fabric.
Today I went to Maiwa on Granville island, a store specializing in natural dye. I picked up Alum, which will be used as our mordant, and Gallnut extract, which will be used as our tannin. I chose the Gallnut extract over the regular Gallnut, because the regular Gallnut leaves a slightly brown colour on the fabric after you do the wash. Because we are expecting buttercups to dye the fabric yellow, it was important to look for a tannin that would be clear, and not leave any colour cast on the fabric. This will give the best yellow results.
The folks at Maiwa were very helpful in picking out a mordant and tannin and answering my questions! They did not, however, have any experience dyeing with buttercups. This will really be an experiment to see if it can be done!
No comments:
Post a Comment