Name: Lucia

Message: Dear Paula 
In a recent trip to Marroc, almost in a hypnotic trance, I ended up buying A LOT of natural pigments, every colour you could imagine, in the Dyer souk. I am a silk painter, and I steam my work. I would really appreciate if you could help me find a way to paint silk with these pigments.
Thanks a lot

In English, a different word is used for pigments than for dyes, but in Brazil, where you wrote from, the two substances have the same name. Pigments are colored substances that are not soluble in water and which have no chemical affinity to the fiber, while dyes are soluble in water and make some sort of bond to the fiber. I want to make the distinction clear, because the method you must use is different for one than it is for the other.

To paint on silk with insoluble pigments, you must have some sort of glue to stick the pigment to the fabric. An old Japanese technique is to make home-made fresh soy milk, mix it with pigments such as earth oxides, and paint it on the fabric. Store-bought soy milk does not perform as well as fresh home-made soy milk. John Marshall is a well-known fiber artist who promotes the use of soy for this purpose; see his site for more information. A more wash-proof modern method is to mix the pigments with a colorless acrylic binder, such as Jacquard Products' Neopaque Clear Extender, making your own fabric paint. After painting on the fabric and allowing the paints to dry, heat-set the acrylic binder by ironing, as directed by the manufacturer.

I think it's more likely that you are talking about painting with true dyes, derived from plants and insects. Unfortunately, not all natural dyes can be applied in a design. Many natural dyes work well only by immersion dyeing. This is why the Japanese art of Shibori includes so many different ways to make designs on fabric that is then dyed by immersing the entire piece of fabric in a single dye. Most natural dyes are used by first cooking the fabric in a mordant such as alum, then, as a separate step, coking the fabric in a bath made of one natural dye.

It is less critically important to make a good bond between the fabric and the natural dye if you will not be washing your work. It is more difficult to make a good enough bond between the dye and the fabric to withstand washing.

A site that I recommend you examine closely is Aurora Silk. They have a page of instructions that you will find very informative, "Tutorial: How to Work With Fabric Paint Dyes". First, you mordant your fabric by soaking it with alum or tin. (Alum is less toxic.) Mix paint by using liquid extracts of the dyes; try dissolving your powders in water, or, if that does not work, boil each one in water for an hour to make your own extract). In many cases you should use equal weights of water and dyestuff to make your extract. Paint the dye extract on to the mordanted fabric, allow it to dry, and then steam your fabric, as you normally do with your silk paints. The Aurora Silk page does not mention the steaming step, but I cannot imagine that your results will be very permanent without it.

Most important: you must test each of your pigments or dyes before trying any serious painting with them. Use a piece of scrap silk large enough to paint with each dye that you are testing. Keep a careful record, with a sketch of where you applied which dye, so that you can decide which of your dyes produce satisfactory results. This testing step is essential! You may have to perform a series of tests before you get your dyes to work out the way you want them to.

There are many different natural dyes, but they do not all behave the same way. Not all natural dyes are equally satisfactory. Figure out which ones work best for you before you embark on any extensive painting using them.

I would be very interested to learn how your natural dye painting experiments go.

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