Name: michelle

Message: Hello! Your website is fascinating. I was wonderng if soda ash is also effective for binding natural dyes to the fabric. (Examples: tumeric, berries, etc.) 
Also, I can't seem to find information on a natural source for dying fabrics a dark chocolate brown or black. Can cocoa powder be used for the brown?

Thank you for all the information!

No, soda ash does not set natural dyes. It works as a dye fixative only for fiber reactive dyes, all of which are synthetic. You can use it to help pre-scour fabric before dyeing it with any dye, but in this case it acts only as a cleaner, and does nothing to bind dye to the fabric.

Some natural dyes can be bound to the fiber, and made more permanent and wash-resistant, by use of the decidedly unnatural fabric treatment known as Retayne, or other similar cationic dye fixatives. It's not the sort of substance that will appeal to people who want to work with natural dyes, though. Cationic dye fixatives are widely used in the textile industry. (See my page, "What is Retayne?".)

Most natural dyes should be applied only to fabric that has been pre-mordanted by boiling it with alum or another mordant. Mordants in general are metal ions and tend to be toxic (much more toxic than synthetic tie-dye dyes!), but alum is safe if you very carefully keep it out of reach of anyone young or foolish enough to consume it by mouth, wear gloves, avoid spills, and never use it in food preparation cooking pots. You will need a dedicated cooking pot to be used only for dyeing, if you want to dye with natural dyes, because you will not be successful if you try to use natural dyes at room temperature. (See my page, "What's the difference between mordants and other chemical assistants used in dyeing?".)

Turmeric is a direct dye, which means that it can be used without a mordant, but it will work better if you do mordant your fabric first. Unfortunately, turmeric will fade quickly, because it is very sensitive to light. Plan to regularly redye anything you have colored with turmeric.  Berries, too, make unsatisfactory fabric dyes, because they turn brown when exposed to light and air, and will wash out if put through the laundry.

Cocoa is not a good dye. It will fade quickly if you wash the fabric that you color with it. Instead, for dyeing brown with natural dyes, I recommend that you use walnut hulls, pecan hulls, or cutch. The nut hulls have the advantage of being direct dyes, which can be used without mordants. For black, I recommend that you use logwood, walnuts, or tannins, in each case mordanting with iron, with or without premordanting with alum. Iron darkens the color of any dye you use it with.

Although modern synthetic dyes are very easy to use, there is a good reason why in medieval times dyeing was restricted to members of the dyers' guilds. Natural dyes are much more difficult for a novice to get good results with. I strongly recommend that you get two or three good books on the subject of natural dyeing, because otherwise you are likely to have a lot of unsuccessful experiments. Check your local public library to see whether they have any good books on dyeing. Don't try to reinvent the wheel; get good recipes to use for your natural dyeing. You will have much better results if you start with tried-and-true recipes, and branch out from there only after you have mastered some of the natural dyes and recipes that are agreed by many people to be the most satisfactory. See my page, "About Natural Dyes".


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