Dyeing is the
craft of imparting
colors to
textiles in loose
fiber,
yarn, cloth or garment form by treatment with a
dye.
Archaeologists have found evidence of
textile dyeing with
natural dyes dating back to the
Neolithic period. In China, dyeing with plants, barks and insects has been traced back more than 5,000 years.[1] Natural insect dyes such as
Tyrian purple and
kermes and plant-based dyes such as
woad,
indigo and
madder were important elements of the economies of Asia and Europe until the discovery of man-made
synthetic dyes in the mid-19th century. Synthetic dyes quickly superseded natural dyes for the large-scale commercial textile production enabled by the
industrial revolution, but natural dyes remained in use by traditional cultures around the world.
Aal or Indian mulberry (Morinda tinctoria) is the source of the
morindone dye sold under the trade name "Suranji". It is extensively cultivated in
India for the dyeing of
cotton,
silk and
wool in shades of red, chocolate or purple, dependent on the
mordant used.
adjective
Adjective dyes are those dyes that require use of a
mordant to bind the color to the
fiber.[2]
alkanet
Alkanet or dyer's bugloss (Alkanna tinctoria) is a traditional plant source of red dye.[3]
alum
Alum (aluminum sulfate) is a naturally occurring basic
mordant widely used in the ancient world.[4]
Aniline dyes or basic dyes are a class of synthetic dyes derived from coal tar, first discovered in the 19th century. These dyes produce brilliant colors that work well with animal fibers, especially
silk. Because of poor colorfastness, aniline dyes are seldom used with textiles today.[7]
Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) is a flowering plant native to eastern North America; its root is the source for a red dye used by
Native Americans.[9]
brazilwood
Brazilwood is a red-brown dye from either of two related trees. The original brazilwood,
sappan wood (Caesalpinia sappan), is native to India and was exported to China by 900 BCE and to Europe via the Muslim world by the
Early Middle Ages.
Portuguese explorers discovered a similar tree growing in the
New World and named the surrounding country
Brazil. This tree is the
Brazilwood (Caesalpinia echinata) used by contemporary craft dyers.[10]
Cudbear is a purple dye from the lichen Roccella tinctoria which also produces
archil and
litmus. Cudbear is one of the few
natural dyes to be credited to a named individual, Dr Cuthbert Gordon of
Scotland, who
patented the process of its production in 1758.[8]
cutch
Cutch is an ancient brown dye from the wood of acacia trees, particularly Acacia catechu, used in India for dyeing
cotton. Cutch gives gray-browns with an iron mordant and olive-browns with copper.[18]
Dyes are
color-bearing
organic compounds that can be dissolved in water or another liquid so that they will penetrate fibers.[19]
dyebath
A dyebath is a solution of dye and water or other liquid in which textiles are dyed.[20]
dyed in the wool
Dyed in the wool or dyed in the fleece refers to
fibers that are dyed prior to
spinning. Compare to dyed in the hank or yarn-dyed; piece-dyed (dyed after
weaving); and garment-dyed, dyed after
sewing or
knitting.
dyer's broom
Dyer's broom (Genista tinctoria), also known as dyer's greenweed or dyer's greenwood, is a garden plant used to produce yellow dyes.[21]
Fugitive colors are prone to fading when exposed to sunlight (fugitive to light) or washing, as opposed to colorfast.
fustic
Fustic or old fustic is a brilliant yellow dye derived from the inner bark of the dyer's mulberry tree Maclura tinctoria of the
West Indies and
Mexico.[18]
Gall nuts, nutgalls or oak apples are a
tannin-rich growth on oak trees produced by an infection of the insect Cynips gallae tinctoriae, used as a dye and a
mordant. Commercial gall nuts are harvested from the
Gall Oak (Quercus lusitanica), also called Lusitanian Oak or Dyer's Oak, native to
Morocco,
Portugal, and
Spain.
Grain was the
Medieval word for the red insect dye
kermes. Dyed in the grain refers to dyed with kermes, or kermes in combination with another dye, producing colors such as crimson in grain, violet in grain.[15]
I
Indian madder
Indian madder or munjeet (Rubia cordifolia) is native to the
Himalayas and other mountains of Asia and Japan. Munjeet was an important dye for the Asian cotton industry and is still used by craft dyers in Nepal.[22]
Logwood (Haematoxylum campechianum) is a dyewood native to
Mexico and
Central America which produces a fast black in combination with a
ferrous sulfate (copperas) mordant.[25] Despite changing fashions in color, logwood was the most widely used dye by the 19th century, providing the sober blacks of formal and
mourning clothes.[26]
Madder (rubia tinctoria) and related plants of the Rubia family are a source of good red dyes containing
alizarin and
purpurin. Madder was a dye of commercial importance in Europe, being cultivated in the Netherlands and France until the market collapsed following the development of synthetic
alizarin dye in 1869.[27]
A
mordant is a
chemical used in combination with dye to "fix" the color in the textile
fibers. By using different mordants, dyers can often obtain a variety of colors and shades from the same dye.[30]
Ochre is an
iron oxidepigment from
clay that can be used to dye textiles a ruddy or reddish-brown color. Evidence of textile dyeing with ochre has been dated to the
Neolithic.[32]
Phoenician red is a red dye related to
Tyrian purple or royal purple, extracted from several genera of
sea snails, primarily Murex brandaris the spiny dye-murex (currently known as Bolinus brandaris).[33]
pigment
Pigments are insoluble color particles that may be attached to the surface of cloth using a binding agent. Solutions of binders and pigments are called pigment dyes.[34]
A fabric or garment which is prepared for dyeing, abbreviated PFD, is specially made to be
dyed. PFD fabrics have been
desized, scoured, and fully
bleached, but have been processed without
optical brighteners or softeners which can interfere with dye uptake.[37]
Quercitron is a mustard yellow natural dye obtained from the bark of the
Eastern Black Oak (Quercus velutina), a forest tree indigenous in North America.[38]
Reactive dyes are a class of synthetic dyes that first appeared commercially in 1956, after their invention in 1954 by Rattee and Stephens at the
Imperial Chemical Industries Dyestuffs Division site in the
United Kingdom. Reactive dyes are used primarily to dye natural fibers and
cellulose fibers such as
rayon.[39]
resist dyeing
Resist dyeing and the related resist printing are terms for a number of traditional methods of dyeing textiles with patterns. Methods are used to "resist" or prevent the dye from reaching all the cloth, thereby creating a pattern and ground. The most common forms use wax, some type of paste, or a mechanical resist that manipulates the cloth such as tying or stitching. Resist techniques include
screen printing,
tie-dye,
ikat, and
batik.[39]
royal purple
Tyrian purple or royal purple is a purple-red dye which is extracted from several genera of
sea snails, primarily Murex brandaris the spiny dye-murex (currently known as Bolinus brandaris). Murex dye was greatly prized in antiquity because it did not fade, rather it became brighter and more intense with weathering and sunlight.[33]
rubia
Rubia is a genus of plants that are sources of the red dye
madder.[27]
Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius) is a flowering plant native to Asia that produces a
substantive yellow dye for natural fibers. Dried safflower blossoms can be used to produce yellow, mustard, khaki, olive green and red colors. Cotton tape dyed red with safflower was formerly used to tie up government papers in
Britain, giving rise to the term
red tape.[40]
saffron
Saffron is a spice derived from the flower of the saffron
crocus (Crocus sativus) that produces a golden-yellow
carotenoid dye called
crocin.[41]
Turkey red was a strong, very fast red dye for cotton obtained from madder root via a complicated multistep process involving "
sumac and oak galls, calf's blood, sheep's dung, oil, soda, alum, and a solution of tin."[43] Turkey red was developed in India and spread to Turkey. Greek workers familiar with the methods of its production were brought to France in 1747, and Dutch and English spies soon discovered the secret. A sanitized version of Turkey red was being produced in Manchester by 1784.[44]
Tyrian purple
Tyrian purple or royal purple is a purple-red dye which is extracted from several genera of
sea snails, primarily Murex brandaris the spiny dye-murex (currently known as Bolinus brandaris). Murex dye was greatly prized in antiquity because it did not fade, rather it became brighter and more intense with weathering and sunlight.[33]
Weld (Reseda luteola), also called mignonette or dyer's rocket, was an important yellow dye of the ancient Mediterranean and Europe.[45]
woad
Woad (Isatis tinctoria) is an
indigo dye-bearing indigenous plant of
Assyria and the
Levant which has been grown in Northern Europe over 2,000 years as a source of blue dye. Woad was carried to
New England in the 17th century and used extensively in America until native stands of indigo were discovered in Florida and the Carolinas.[6]
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