Message: We are doing an experiment with natural dyes. I have choosen our reddish brown dirt. I have done the mordant of aluminum acetate. I have put the shirt in the red brown dye bath and then rinsed and put it in the washer. I was really dissapointed that it actually was more of a red orange and did not dye the brownish colors in there. Is there something I could have done to also bring out the brown color. I was hoping it would have rinsed out just like the color of the dyebath.

Dirt dyeing and careful choice of colors are pretty much incompatible. It's not like selecting a specific dye color and knowing in advance pretty much what color you're going to get. With dirt, you're lucky if more than a small fraction of the stain remains after a number of washings; the most likely ultimate color will be a pale buff. Mordanting with alum does not make a great deal of difference in how well dirt dyes cotton, though it's very helpful for a good natural dye. Mordanting your already alum-mordanted shirt with a strong tannin solution would help considerably in permanently attaching the iron from your dirt, but it will completely change the color of the iron in the dirt to black as it forms an iron tannate.

Dirt dyeing is very different from fabric painting with dirt. The main coloring material in dirt is the iron it comtains. The coloring material in bright red soil is oxidized, anhydrous, Fe₂O₃, a hematite mineral; that in bright yellow dirt is oxidized, hydrated, 2Fe₂O3•3H₂O, a limonite mineral; and the coloring materials in most dark soils are the result of rotted plant materials. Only the iron ingredients in the dirt can be regarded as a real dye. The rotted plant material is only a temporary color, and will not make a lasting dye on fabric.

If you are not concerned about washing your fabric, then you can color it by burying it in a compost pile and allowing the material to ferment in contact with your fabric, ideally for weeks or months. This compost dyeing is not a way to produce an intense or long-lasting color; it will tend to wash out, after which you'd have some dull stained fabric. I recommend this technique only if you plan to display the results as "art", without much washing.

If, instead, you want a shirt whose dirt color will last a long time through many wearings, you will do better to make your own fabric paint, instead of dye. A dye has to have a strong affinity for the fabric you use it on, as otherwise it will wash out. Most dirt colors lack this strong affinity. To color fabric with something that lacks a strong affinity for the fabric requires you to use a binder, turning your pigment into a fabric paint by essentially gluing it to the fabric. You can do this "naturally" by making homemade soy milk (store-bought does not work well) and painting your fabric with it, letting it dry, then paint on whichever iron oxides are of interest to you. It is best to leave the minerals to cure on the soy milk in the fabric for months before washing. Alternatively, you can make a long-lasting fabric paint by combining your choice of dirt with a colorless acrylic fabric paint binder, such as Jacquard Products' Neopaque Extender. After applying your home-made fabric paint to the fabric, allow it to dry, then heat-set as recommended by the manufacturers of the fabric paint extender. This will make the color permanent and washable.

For more information about mud or dirt dyeing, see my page, "About Natural Dyes".

If you just want a naturally-dyed brown shirt, I recommend that you use another substance as a dye. There are other natural dyes which are far more effective and long-lasting, as dyes, than dirt. An excellent example would be the hulls of walnuts or pecans. If you have access to a walnut tree or a pecan tree, gather the outer husks (not just the shells you see on nuts in the grocery store). You will need about a pound of nut husks for every pound of fabric. Simmer the shirt for at least an hour with the nut husks. The metal content of your dyeing pot will affect the color you end up with; an iron pot will result in a darker color. No mordant is needed when dyeing with walnut or pecan husks, though using one will certainly do no harm. Walnuts produce a darker color than pecans, but the green husks of pecans will produce a good brown color, too.

(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)