Name: kris

Message: I am into plant and insect (clay and mushroom if I could figure out where to buy it...do you know??) dyeing as we are all pretty chemically sensitive around here. Have you done any of this and, in particular, have you tried or heard of good natural dyes that will work with cold water for batiking? Most instructions say to boil then cool.

Almost all natural dyes require a lot of heat. The usual procedure for dyeing cotton involves boiling the fabric in alum, then boiling it in tannin, then boiling it in alum again, and finally boiling it with an equal weight of a natural dyestuff. Obviously, this won't work for wax batik. Silk is more easily dyed than cotton, but well-tested recipes still call for heating the fabric in the dyebaths. A better resist method for hot water dyes is clamping, tying, or stitching. This goes beyond the brilliantly colored tie-dye shirts that people still associate with the sixties; it's a traditional art in Japan, known collectively as shibori. There are many different methods used in Japanese shibori. It's well worth exploring, and is compatible with the use of hot water dyes, so you can use tried-and-true hot dyebath recipes for natural dyes with it.

Of the traditional dyes that were used in batik in Indonesia before modern synthetic dyes were introduced, the only one that is both available to us in other countries and satisfactory enough to still be in use is indigo. Indigo is a vat dye, which can be applied from a room temperature vat. The chemistry of indigo is complex, and it's really not the best dye for the beginner, but it's a lovely dye for the experienced dyer who has plenty of space and time. You can buy indigo from both synthetic and natural sources; chemically, the two are the same, but you'll probably prefer to support the natural indigo industry. Properly applied indigo is quite washfast, though improperly applied indigo is subject to crocking.

Traditional dyes in Indonesian batik were rapidly replaced by synthetic dyes because their performance is so much better, in terms of producing colors that will not fade in the laundry. Very few natural dyes can be satisfactorily applied in the cool water required for batik. In Indonesia, a rather toxic sort of dye called naphthol dye has long been used, because it requires no heat at all, and in fact can be applied in ice water. Modern hand dyers usually avoid naphthol dyes in favor of cool water fiber reactive dyes, which are safer. The best dye to use for batik is Procion MX dye, because it can be used at room temperature (70°F or higher) and is relatively non-toxic. Procion MX dyes are commonly used by people who are chemically sensitive, with no problems unless they have an allergy to them; this is a problem for the natural dye cochineal, as well. Be very careful to wear a respirator when mixing dye powders, whether from natural or synthetic sources, to avoid triggering an allergy if you turn out to be susceptible. Fiber reactive dyes and the soda ash used with them are vastly safer for chemically sensitive people than most mordants used with natural dyes, with the exception of alum and tannin.

Some dyers use natural dye extracts to paint onto their batik work, and then rely on steaming to fix the dye, using the same process that silk painters use with the synthetic French silk dyes such as Dupont or Pebeo Soie. The results are likely to be less permanent than fiber reactive dyes, especially when proper mordanting is not used, but suitable for fabric that will be washed rarely or, preferably, not washed at all. Isabella Whitworth shows some lovely pieces dyed via this method, as well as by using shibori methods such as clamping with natural dyes: see her extensive pages on What's New and Sustainability.

A few dyers enjoy compost dyeing, in which they bury their fabric in a compost pile to acquire the mostly brownish colors of the compost as it rots. Since it's a cool water technique, it could be used with batik wax. The results are certainly not reliably wash-resistant or light-resistant, so this method is not suitable for clothing. The point of compost dyeing is largely the beauty that these dyers see in subtle colorings that change with time.

Another method that you should consider is the use of fresh homemade soy milk to turn natural pigments, including clay as well as other coloring materials, into fabric paints. The protein in the soy milk glues the colors to the fabric. Again, the results are far less resistant to fading in the laundry than synthetic dyes, but they can be washed, with care, if you wait long enough after applying the paints to the fabric. I recommend that you look at the instructions provided by Table Rock Llamas. Also see John Marshall's web site. It's not an easy technique, since the soy milk must be made fresh, but it's the only good way to use clay pigments to color fabrics using only natural materials, and it works for other colorings as well. 

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