So glad I found your channel. The way you document your natural dye experiments is so thorough (and fun). It is similar to how my mind works, and scratches a sort of itch in my head. lol This makes me want to keep experimenting with dyes and not be discouraged. Looking forward to as many more videos as you would like to share!
I just ordered some VERY expensive yarn that has been dyed with cochineal and have become obsessed. The yarn is not a typical bold bright pink, but a beautiful tonal type color. It has 2 different types of animal fibers (wool & alpaca) so they took up the dye slightly differently (I’m assuming a less concentrated bath was used) and is just gorgeous. Hopefully I will be making my own natural yarn in the future but the issue is the professional people have done all the experiments and taken the hours and hours of time to learn how to combine different natural dyes for different colors. They are sooo beautiful. 🥰
Getting into natural dyeing is fun but it also involves a lot of research and trial and error. Definitely start by experimenting with small amounts and not using fibers that you spent a lot of money on. Cochineal is one of the easier natural dyes to use, it has great color fastness and it can produce rich colors from very little amounts. One important point, the bugs need to be crushed, it's not the most pleasant step, but it needs to happen.
Hi! How long should you mordant cellulose fabric for if you're putting it in a pot on the stove top with potassium alum? Is 1hr long enough? Ive been seeing various info.. Thanks!
Awesome video! How do you store your leftover dyes please? Did you use tannin if you used cotton? I read that if you are using cotton to mordant with alum and tannin. Shirts are amazing! Thank you so much!
Leftover dye can be stored in a sealed jar for sometime, but it will eventually grow mold! To preserve it for longer, you could freeze it or evaporate the water out of it and turn it into a solid (like solid watercolor paint) through evaporation. I have been experimenting with tannin lately. Please check out my latest video, it compares mordanting cotton with and without tannin. I think you'll find it very helpful. I haven't compared mordanting for cochineal specifically with and without tannin. But I think pretreating cotton with tannin and then mordanting with alum or other metal salts will make the color more intense and longer-lasting with cochineal as well, because it definitely does for other natural dyes.
@@jdmosaics Yes there was, they were tied differently when they were mordanted before. And the indigo dyed ones were never mordanted. And besides all that, remordanting will get you richer color.
question? if the T shirt that got sprayed was wet and pre-mordanted do you think it would have taken in the color deeper? some show a strong heated vat for cochineal to take to cotton. What are the fibers you are working with?
Everything I'm working with is cotton, non-bleached cotton, which absorbs dyes better than cotton that has been bleached white. The t-shirt I sprayed was pre-mordanted (same method as I showed for everything else) but it wasn't wet. I had applied a water-soluble resist to the front of it to make the graphic on the front appear on it and it had to be sprayed while dry to keep the graphic lines as sharp as possible. If it was wet, the color would have been absorbed deeper, yes, but the graphic would have been blurred. Dyeing in a strong and hot vat will usually give you more intense color with cochineal or any other dye, but it doesn't have to be hot to still give you good results. From my experience cochineal is one of the strongest natural dyes, and it imparts color on fibers more easily than any of the botanical dyes.
It doesn't need it. I used Dharma Trading Dye Fixative when I did this batch. But I no longer use that product when I'm dyeing. Everything I use is in the description of the video with links btw
I used Dharma Dye Fixative. Here's a link to their website: www.dharmatrading.com/chemicals/dharma-dye-fixative.html It improves the color fastness of dyes on natural fibers, especially cotton. It isn't a necessary step, but it gives you better lasting results. If you aren't using a dye fixative, I would recommend allowing the dyed fabric to cure for a longer period of time before rinsing it and doing a final wash.
The purpose of the chalk is to "fix" the aluminum acetate mordant to the fabric. Doing a chalk afterbath after mordanting with Aluminum Acetate is suppose to improve the performance of the Aluminum Acetate. However, this step could be skipped. I do it because that's the method I learned, but I have heard that it isn't necessary and Aluminum Acetate will work as a mordant on its own.
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So glad I found your channel. The way you document your natural dye experiments is so thorough (and fun). It is similar to how my mind works, and scratches a sort of itch in my head. lol This makes me want to keep experimenting with dyes and not be discouraged. Looking forward to as many more videos as you would like to share!
I just ordered some VERY expensive yarn that has been dyed with cochineal and have become obsessed. The yarn is not a typical bold bright pink, but a beautiful tonal type color. It has 2 different types of animal fibers (wool & alpaca) so they took up the dye slightly differently (I’m assuming a less concentrated bath was used) and is just gorgeous.
Hopefully I will be making my own natural yarn in the future but the issue is the professional people have done all the experiments and taken the hours and hours of time to learn how to combine different natural dyes for different colors. They are sooo beautiful.
🥰
Getting into natural dyeing is fun but it also involves a lot of research and trial and error. Definitely start by experimenting with small amounts and not using fibers that you spent a lot of money on. Cochineal is one of the easier natural dyes to use, it has great color fastness and it can produce rich colors from very little amounts. One important point, the bugs need to be crushed, it's not the most pleasant step, but it needs to happen.
perfect video, insane results, that's so nice!
oh wow these are really beautiful
Looking forward to the video about your logo magically appearing :) Love it all!
This is awesome and super informative!
Thank you!!
Awesome details! Thanks!!
That was soooooo informative 😊
I like the one with the logo
goddddessss!!!! this brand is totally a lifestyle!
Thankks boo!!!
Hi! How long should you mordant cellulose fabric for if you're putting it in a pot on the stove top with potassium alum? Is 1hr long enough?
Ive been seeing various info.. Thanks!
I spin flax into linen thread and want to dye some of my thread before putting it on the loom. What is your experience using cochineal on linen?
Awesome video! How do you store your leftover dyes please? Did you use tannin if you used cotton? I read that if you are using cotton to mordant with alum and tannin. Shirts are amazing! Thank you so much!
Leftover dye can be stored in a sealed jar for sometime, but it will eventually grow mold! To preserve it for longer, you could freeze it or evaporate the water out of it and turn it into a solid (like solid watercolor paint) through evaporation. I have been experimenting with tannin lately. Please check out my latest video, it compares mordanting cotton with and without tannin. I think you'll find it very helpful. I haven't compared mordanting for cochineal specifically with and without tannin. But I think pretreating cotton with tannin and then mordanting with alum or other metal salts will make the color more intense and longer-lasting with cochineal as well, because it definitely does for other natural dyes.
@@chromaticnature just a tip - there was no need to Re mordant your cloth if they had already been mordanted.
@@jdmosaics Yes there was, they were tied differently when they were mordanted before. And the indigo dyed ones were never mordanted. And besides all that, remordanting will get you richer color.
Thanks a million, I loved it
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great video
question? if the T shirt that got sprayed was wet and pre-mordanted do you think it would have taken in the color deeper? some show a strong heated vat for cochineal to take to cotton. What are the fibers you are working with?
Everything I'm working with is cotton, non-bleached cotton, which absorbs dyes better than cotton that has been bleached white. The t-shirt I sprayed was pre-mordanted (same method as I showed for everything else) but it wasn't wet. I had applied a water-soluble resist to the front of it to make the graphic on the front appear on it and it had to be sprayed while dry to keep the graphic lines as sharp as possible. If it was wet, the color would have been absorbed deeper, yes, but the graphic would have been blurred. Dyeing in a strong and hot vat will usually give you more intense color with cochineal or any other dye, but it doesn't have to be hot to still give you good results. From my experience cochineal is one of the strongest natural dyes, and it imparts color on fibers more easily than any of the botanical dyes.
Can you tell me what you used as a dye fixative for Cochineal please? I never thought it needed that.
It doesn't need it. I used Dharma Trading Dye Fixative when I did this batch. But I no longer use that product when I'm dyeing. Everything I use is in the description of the video with links btw
How long did the clothes sit after being dipped?
I think I left them in the dyebath for 2 hours. :)
Wonderful. 😊
Which dye fixative did you use?
I used Dharma Dye Fixative. Here's a link to their website: www.dharmatrading.com/chemicals/dharma-dye-fixative.html
It improves the color fastness of dyes on natural fibers, especially cotton. It isn't a necessary step, but it gives you better lasting results. If you aren't using a dye fixative, I would recommend allowing the dyed fabric to cure for a longer period of time before rinsing it and doing a final wash.
The purple
Why did you use chalk?
The purpose of the chalk is to "fix" the aluminum acetate mordant to the fabric. Doing a chalk afterbath after mordanting with Aluminum Acetate is suppose to improve the performance of the Aluminum Acetate. However, this step could be skipped. I do it because that's the method I learned, but I have heard that it isn't necessary and Aluminum Acetate will work as a mordant on its own.
Love frm india ❤️
I manufacturer herbal Dyeing and print fabric
noice