Hand Dyeing
Natural Colors on the Farm
The dyeing operation begins by washing the spinning oil from the yarn, then immersing it for 2 hours in a 200° F mordant bath of Alum and/or Cream of Tartar that will prepare the yarn to accept the natural dyes. After mordanting, the yarn is quickly rinsed. The mordanted yarn is dyed by immersing it for 1½ hours in a 180° F bath which contains one or more of the following extracts.
COCHINEAL from the female Dactylopus Coccus insect that lives on the Prickly Pear cactus of Peru; it produces pink to fuchsia colors; combined with Madder it gives a commune red.
MADDER from the root of the Rubia Tintoria bush of Turkey; it produces orange to cherry to fuchsia colors corresponding to the pH changes brought on by adding vinegar or soda.
CUTCH from the heartwood of the Acacia Catechu tree of Burma; it produces camel to caramel colors, combined with Madder it gives bright apricots.
FUSTIC from the heartwood of the Chlorphora Tinctoria tree of Brazil; it produces dense yellows; combined with Logwood it gives olive greens.
LOGWOOD from the heartwood of the Haematoxylon Campechianum tree of Venezuela; it produces purple-grays; combined with other dye extracts, it deepens their colors.
OSAGE from the heartwood of the Maculura Pomifera tree of Oklahoma; it produces a bright yellow, overdyed with Indigo it gives the teals of the sea.
INDIGO from the leaves of the Indigofera Suffruticosa plant of India; it produces blue-jean blues; overdyeing Cochineal with Indigo gives periwinkles and plums.
Dyeing with Indigo is a different procedure; it involves reducing the oxygen in the Indigo dye bath then dipping the yarn into the pot for several minutes; as you pull the yarn is from the bath it is green, but when it contacts the oxygen in the air it turns blue before your eyes. Overdyeing a Madder dyed orange yarn with Indigo gives warm gray-browns.