Our Favourite Reds — Natural Colour
NATURAL REDS
Where does red come from? For thousands of years it came from nature. The ability to coax an intense red from nature and have it live a long and happy life on cloth was a rare skill that was richly rewarded. Today, people all over the world are discovering the pleasures of working with natural dyes. Let us introduce you to a few of our favourite reds.
MAIWA'S DYEABLE CLOTHING
DYED WITH MADDER & CUTCH
THE RECIPE
Are you a dyer? Here's how we dyed one of our favourite reds.
Scour the shirt and scarf using 2 tsp Synthrapol and 4 tsp Soda Ash in a pot of hot water. / Mordant using 10% WOF Ground Gallnut in warm water for 1 hour, squeeze and give a very light rinse. / Follow with 8% WOF Alum Acetate in warm water for 1 hour, squeeze and very light rinse – let dry overnight.
Prepare a Chalk bath to neutralize acetate – 2 tbsp Chalk (Calcium Carbonate) to a bucket of warm water. Soak for 10 mins in this bath working the cloth so it gets fully wetted out. Squeeze and light rinse.
Prepare a dye pot with hot water (enough for shirt to fit plus extra so it floats without constraint). / Add and heat 30% WOF Madder Cordifolia & dissolve 10% WOF Cutch extract. Let these heat for 30 mins until you have a healthy steam/simmer. / Add the Shimoga Shirt. Move around thoroughly for 5 minutes … then make sure cloth is all below the surface and keep hot for 45-60 mins. Stirring occasionally (every 5 mins or so). Keep at a steady simmer.
Remove the shirt from dye pot. You can keep this dye as there is still lots of colour - and use it to dye the scarf. / Rinse with warm water until water runs fairly clear. Let hang to dry. This shirt can now be enjoyed! We do like to let the colour cure in the cloth for one to two weeks before we use soap. After curing you can do a final rinse with a mild, pH neutral, liquid soap.
The Pom Pom Scarf was mordanted the same way as the Shimoga Shirt and dyed in the exhaust bath (the dye bath used for the shirt).
For a thorough introduction to natural dyes including procedures, mordants, and recipes, see our "Maiwa Guide to Natural Dyes" at naturaldyes.ca.
MORE OF OUR FAVOURITE REDS
A Perfect Red evokes with style and verve this history of a grand obsession, of intrigue, empire, and adventure in pursuit of the most desirable colour on earth.
This journal has been an idea of ours for a long time. It is a little like a combination of a travel journal and a natural dye journal. It is the journal we have always wanted.
To our U.S. customers – don't forget that the exchange rate works in your favour, it's like an extra discount.
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