Vegetable Dyes: Being a Book of Recipes and Other Information Useful to the Dyer

Tannin (Tannic acid). Cotton and linen strongly attract tannin and when prepared with it they are able to retain dyes permanently. Cotton saturated with tannin attracts the dye stuff more rapidly, and holds it. Tannic acid is the best tannin for mordanting as it is the purest and is free from any other colouring matter; it is, therefore, used for pale and bright shades. But for dark shades, substances containing tannic acid are used, such as sumach, myrobalans, valonia, divi-divi, oak galls, chestnut (8 to 10 per cent tannin), catechu

Iron. Iron is usually employed as a "saddening" agent, i.e. the cotton after dyeing is steeped in a cold solution of the mordant. A further use is in dyeing black, when the cotton, after being prepared with tannin, is steeped in a cold solution of Iron. This process by itself gives a dark colour before any dye is used

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The dyeing of cotton is difficult with the natural dye stuffs, there are only a few colours which can be said to be satisfactory. The fastest known in earlier days was Turkey red, a long and difficult process with madder and not very practical for the small dyer. It had its origin in India where it is still used; red Indian cotton is one of the fastest colours known. Catechu is another excellent cotton dye used for various shades of brown, grey and black. A cold indigo vat is used for blue, Indigo Extract is not used. Yellows can be got with weld, flavin, turmeric (for which cotton has a strong attraction), and fustic. Great care is to be taken in dyeing yellow as it is not very fast to light. Greens may be got by dyeing in the indigo vat and then with a yellow recipe, purples from logwood with tin mordant, but purples and greens are unsatisfactory, and not suitable to the vegetable dyer

fustic.
The wool is first dyed in the blue vat; then washed and dried; then after mordanting, dyed in the yellow bath. This method is not arbitrary as some dyers consider a better green is got by dyeing it yellow before the blue. But the first method produces the fastest and brightest greens as the aluming after the blue vat clears the wool of the loose particles of indigo and seems to fix the colour

Sumach is the ground up leaves and twigs of the Rhus coraria growing in Southern Europe. It dyes wool a yellow and a yellow brown, but it is chiefly used in cotton dyeing

Turmeric is a powder obtained from the ground-up tubers of Curcuma tinctoria, a plant found in India and other Eastern countries. It gives a brilliant orange yellow, but has little permanence. It is one of the substantive colours and does not need any mordant. Cotton has a strong attraction for it, and is simply dyed by working in a solution of Turmeric at 60°C. for about ½ hour. With silk and wool it gives a brighter colour if mordanted with alum or tin. Boiling should be avoided. It is used sometimes for deepening the colour of Fustic or Weld, but its use is not recommended, as although it gives very beautiful colours, it is a fugitive dye

use a cold solution, or a solution at a temperature below boiling point. Cotton and linen are more difficult to dye than wool or silk. Their fibre is not so porous and will not hold the dye stuff without a more complicated preparation. The usual method of preparing linen or cotton is to boil it first with some astringent. The use of astringents in dyeing depends upon the tannic acid they contain. In combination with ordinary mordants, tannic acid aids the attraction of the colouring matter to the fibre and adds brilliancy to the colours. The astringents mostly used are tannic acid, gall nuts, sumach and myrobalams.

Different mordants give different colours with the same dye stuff. For example:—Cochineal, if mordanted with alum, will give a crimson colour; with iron, purple; with tin, scarlet; and with chrome or copper, purple. Logwood, also, if mordanted with alum, gives a mauve colour; if mordanted with chrome, it gives a blue. Fustic, weld, and most of the yellow dyes, give a greeny yellow with alum, but an old gold colour with chrome; and fawns of various shades with other mordants

COTTON
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Cotton is the down surrounding the seeds in pods of certain shrubs and trees growing in tropical and semi-tropical countries. First introduced into Europe by the Saracens, it was manufactured into cloth in Spain in the early 13th century. Cotton cloth was first made in England in the early 17th century.
The colour of cotton varies from deep yellow to white. The fibre differs in length, the long stapled being the most valued. It is difficult to dye and requires a special preparation.
A few of the natural dye stuffs are capable of dyeing cotton direct, without a mordant, such as Turmeric, Barberry bark, safflower, annatto. For other dyes cotton has a special attraction, such as catechu