Indigo
Indigo is a very special dye, for starters, indigo is not soluble in water, so we can’t dye the same way as the others dyes.
We need to do an oxidation-reduction reaction in order to prepare an organic vat. We only prepare organic vats, and we use fructose and other fruits as reducing agents.
We love indigo!!! is like alchemy magic to us!
Cochineal
Cochineal is a parasite insect that lives in cactus. It is mostly found in Mexico, Latin America and the Canary islands. We can only use the females to dye. The insects are picked and then dried.
We can obtain different using cochineal: light pink, pink, red, purple, grey.
Avocado pits
Avocado pits
We can obtain lovely light pink colors using avocado pits. We collect our avocado pits from family & friends. Using food waste for dyeing is really amazing.
Pericon
tagetes lucida
In Mexico we use pericón for dyeing yellow. We can find this lovely flowers in Mexico countryside during August and September.
We also use other natural dyes like logwood, brasilwood, different kinds of tannins, and avocado pits.
To mordant we use different products like: alum, soda ash and tannins.
A good mordanting is the secret for achieving a great dyeing!
Natural dyes is a huge world! Full of interesting facts, and there is always something new to learn!
If you want to learn more about natural dyeing & learn the different techniques to achieve beautiful & solid colors. I invite you to check out my workshop page and subscribe to one of my workshops!
