26 Surface Design Journal

Natural dyes are experiencing a great resur-gence of interest in the textile world. They areconsidered eco-friendly and nontoxic, fittingnicely into similar trends of repurposing, up-cycling, and local food. We are all becoming moreaware of how we as individuals can affect ourenvironment. Yet natural dyeing has also sufferedfrom bad press. In the past, toxic mordants,metallic salts that help bind dye to fiber, wereused regularly without any safety precautions.When fugitive dyes (made from non-dye plants)are used, the color fades quickly or disappearscompletely from textiles—leaving all naturaldyes to take the blame.

At first glance, “natural” might seem asimplistic approach to dyeing, but there is a greatdeal of scientific information involved to process:What is the best mordant to use for protein (wooland silk) or cellulose (cotton and paper)? Whatare the best natural dyes? Can we print withthem? The answers to many of these questionsare grounded in science, fact, experimentation,and history.

Before British chemist William Perkinsinvented chemical dyes in the middle of the 19thcentury, all textile dyeing was done with organicmaterials—plants, lichens, or insects. Both arti-sans and industry had to be skilled in mordantapplications and knowledgeable in the choice of dyes. Each plant has specific dye componentsthat determine its shade of color and fastness to light.

Pre-Columbian and 5th century Coptictextiles in museum collections show how thesedyes have stood the test of time. Reds made fromcochineal insects and yellows from plants, suchas weld and fustic, remain vibrant. The indigo ofancient Egypt is still the only natural source ofblue dye.

Chemical dyes became available duringthe industrial revolution; as more cloth was beingproduced, more dye was needed. The ease ofapplication and unlimited palette made themvery appealing to industry, and artisans soon fol-lowed. The downside to innovation was workerexposure to harmful chemicals and the pollutionof water and ground. This has been the reality forover a century in spite of the development ofsophisticated treatments to counteract contami-nation.

Another price to pay for the use ofchemical dyes was knowledge. In cultures wherenatural-dye information was verbally passeddown from one person to another, it took only ageneration for skill and information to be lost.Today, people like Charllotte Kwon of MaiwaTextiles in Canada and Michelle Whipplinger ofEarth Hues in Seattle have done important workin helping small groups of indigenous artisansaround the world to relearn the process of natu-ral dyeing. Recently, Maiwa brought renownedFrench scientist and natural-dye expert MichelGarcia to West Bengal, India, to teach a naturaldye class. I participated with a group of 18 master

The Scienceof

Natural Dyesb y C a t h a r i n e E l l i s

Spring2013

ABOVE: CATHARINE ELLIS’S madder-dyed handwoven cloth with madder seeds.LEFT: CATHARINE ELLIS Deep Roots Detail, jacquard woven shibori, cotton, ferrous and alum mordants, madder dyed.

BELOW: An array of naturally dyed textiles by JAY RICH. Photos by the artists.

27

28 Surface Design Journal

dyers from all over India and Ethiopia. Althoughvery skilled, each of these dyers welcomed theopportunity to learn more about the science oftheir dye processes and how to troubleshootsolutions.

As a professional educator, weaver, andshibori dyer, I have successfully used acid dyes,fiber reactive dyes, vat dyes, and disperse dyes formany years. But when my dye operation returnedto my home studio with a shallow well and afragile septic system, it was time to try a differentapproach. Exposure to Garcia’s methods and thework of others has opened my eyes to the possi-bilities of using mordant chemistry and carefuldye selection to achieve results that are excitingas well as environmentally sound. My cotton fabrics, all naturally dyed woven shibori, arebecoming more complex and rewarding than I ever thought possible.

In recent years, a groupof colleagues formed to work withnatural dyes—to test, question,brainstorm, experiment, and learntogether. Sara Goodman invited agroup of eight textile artists (LisaGrey, Ana Lisa Hedstrom, JoanMorris, Elin Noble, Jay Rich, ValerieWalker, Bhakti Zeik, and me) to aweek-long dye retreat in Fall 2011at her New Hampshire studio. Lastyear, the group met in Montreal atthe studio of Valerie Walker. Newworks of textile art informed bythese collaborations will be ondisplay in the exhibit EarthFriendly Alchemy: Explorations inNatural Dyeing during the upcom-ing SDA Conference in SanAntonio, Texas.

Jay Rich’s green walnuthull tests produced an encouraging range ofgreens and browns. “In today’s high-expectationfast-results dye world, it slows us down to accept‘what is’ from a natural dye pot.” He said, “It wasreassuring to be with other experimental artists,respectful of the ancient history of dyes, curiousabout living closer to nature, and simply beingopen to what happens.”

Elin Noble enjoyed the differences inprocess. “With chemical dyes, I can see the addingand subtracting of color and make decisionsaccordingly. With natural dyes there is a ‘blind’component as I apply mordants first and the dyelater. Working with a mixture of experience andchance is fascinating.”

For others like Ana Lisa Hedstrom, new

connections resulted in new discoveries. “The use of Kakishibui [made from fermented persimmons],” she explained, “is one of the new applications I added to my studio work with the help and research of Chris Conrad[www.kakishibui.com]. As always, I experiment,experiment, experiment!”

“My association with our group of natu-ral dyers led me to explore Michel Garcia’s mor-danting techniques,” added Sara Goodman. “Ibegan my own direct study with Michel inOaxaca, Mexico, where we worked with plantsthat were natural bio-accumulators of aluminumfor mordanting fibers. Michel and I are nowinvolved in a collaborative project with Threadsof Life Foundation to write a recipe booklet forwestern dyers to use Symplocos (a significant bio-accumulator plant from Indonesia) as an alterna-tive to metallic salts. We hope to be importing it

in the near future.”Without mordants, most dyes

will wash right off the cloth. Forprinting on fabric, I use mordantapplications with aluminumacetate, ferrous (iron) acetate, andtitanium. Naturally occurring alumand ferrous are the traditionaland least toxic mordants. Whenconverted into acetates, they bindespecially well to cellulose plantfibers, which are more difficult todye than animal protein fibers.Alum results in the truest, bright-est color of the dye, while ferroussaddens or mutes it.

Traditionally used in industry,printing with acetates is a rela-tively new application introducedto contemporary makers inNatural Dye Workshop with Michel

Garcia: Colors of Provence Using SustainableMethods (Slow Fiber Studios, 2012), the first in aseries of comprehensive DVDs produced byYoshiko Wada. Titanium, historically used in thetanning industry, is a recent discovery of Garcia’sthat brings out brilliant yellow tones when com-bined with tannins. These mordants are oftencombined to achieve different shades with a sin-gle dye bath; they can also be discharged oncloth with lemon juice. My fabrics now have acomplexity of color and depth of layers I previ-ously thought could only be accomplished withchemical fiber reactive and vat dye combinations.

Another of Garcia’s earth-friendly inno-vations is an indigo vat reduced with natural fruitwaste, henna, or fructose. Maintained for months

29

ABOVE: LISA GREY Leaf print #7 Alum, copper, and iron mordants applied directly to leaves and paper, folded, clamped, bundled, and placed in dye baths of leaves, bark, tea, and vegetable skins, 22” x 15”, 2011.

INSET: ANA LISA HEDSTROM Paper portfolio covers dyed with Kakishibui (fermented persimmon). Photo by the artist.BELOW LEFT: Sumac leaves stripped for dyeing. Photo: Catharine Ellis.

BELOW RIGHT: CATHARINE ELLIS Detail of woven shibori cotton fabric dyed with lac and sumac leaves, mordanted with alum, ferrous and titanium. Photo by the artist.LEFT: Natural dyes chemist and expert MICHEL GARCIA presenting mordant printing techniques during the filming of his natural dye workshop DVD. Photo: Catharine Ellis.

Spring2013

30 Surface Design Journal

ABOVE: Morinda-dyed threads with Symplocos leaves used in the mordant process. Photo: Sara Goodman.BACKGROUND: Symplocos leaves. Photo: Jean Howe.

RIGHT: Detail of SARA GOODMAN’S shibori and printed patterns on silk, naturally dyed with weld, osage, fustic, marigold, chestnut, and cutch; mordanted with Symplocos, alum and ferrous acetate. Photo: Sara Goodman.

31Spring2013

at a time, the vat is sweet smelling and gives megreat color. To gain a better understanding ofhow all the components work together, I havelearned the subtleties of “reading” my vat, know-ing when to add lime to adjust the pH or sugarto increase the reduction.

Color can come from nearly any plant,but not all will give a good dye that holds fast tolight and washing. Dyestuffs that have been usedhistorically with industrial applications are agood place to start. Cochineal (insects), cutch(bark), madder (root), pomegranate (fruit peels),and weld (plant and seeds) have all passed thetest of time and many are being raised today forthe dye industry.

I use a number of purchased dyeextracts that are sustainably grown in addition toharvesting from my own garden. A bed of mad-der root provides deep orange reds. Weld plant-ed from seed and dried for year-round dyeingoffers the clearest and most lightfast of yellows.Anything remaining in a dyepot is used to waterthe garden. This is very different than usingchemical dyes where it is important to balancepH and treatment of water and waste. It simplyfeels better to be working this way.

The transition to natural dyes has takena lot of work and research. Having completedhundreds of dye and mordant tests, I still discovernew things in the studio every day. Some elementsare out of my control, such as the quality of plantor the time of year it is harvested. As an artist, Ichoose processes that fit my work. As a teacher, itis important to broaden the scope of my ownunderstanding of what is possible and why ithappens.

There is great excitement circulatingright now about natural dyes in university textile

programs, in workshop classes, in publications,and exhibitions. Yet it will take study, experimen-tation, and commitment on the part of textileartists to turn this from a passing interest to aserious change in the field. As we wrestle withpermanent solutions to our global environmen-tal challenges, it seems right that this shouldextend to the artist’s studio. Small groups arecoming together to learn process. We are con-sulting with sympathetic chemists and botanistswho help us to understand the science of ourprocess. We need mentors and we need tobecome mentors—generous with both informa-tion and results. It is a dynamic time in the fieldof natural dyes.

Catharine Ellis will teach natural dye workshops thissummer at Penland School of Craft (with Joy Boutrup)in North Carolina, www.penland.org; and ArrowmontSchool of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tennessee,www.arrowmont.org.

To read a review of the Natural Dye Workshop withMichel Garcia DVDs from Slow Cloth Studios, turn topage 70. To learn more about the Symplocos plant,contact Sara Goodman at sara.goodman@valley.net.

Earth Friendly Alchemy: Explorations in Natural Dyeingwill be on display June 1–30, 2013, at the InternationalCenter Gallery in San Antonio, TX. Participating artistAna Lisa Hedstrom will present a lecture on Kakishibuiduring in•ter•face, the 17th International SurfaceDesign Association Conference in San Antonio, TX(June 6–9, 2013). To read the brochure and registeronline, visit surfacedesign.org/2013conference.

—Catharine Ellis is a weaver, dyer, teacher, and authorof Woven Shibori (2005, Interweave). Her jacquardand dobby fabrics, woven at the Oriole Mill in NorthCarolina, are natural-dyed. www.ellistextiles.com