Fibrecrafts Turquoise Blue Natural Dye & Forest Green Natural Dye

Soluble natural dyes derived from fermented natural indigo and alkanet.

The Turquoise Blue natural dye gives a good blue, and at lower concentrations provides a fine teal green, while the Forest Green, which also contains fermented pomegranate, produces a deep green.

The dyes are sold in 25g sachets and 10g will dye 100g of materials to the full colour achievable.

Our photographs of dyed wool yarn illustrate the variations in colours that can be achieved. Turquoise Blue photo top, Forest Green photo bottom.

Dyeing wool or silk with the dye colour follows the two normal steps for dyeing with a naturally occurring dyestuff: mordanting and then dyeing. First ensure that the material is properly scoured and then wetted for around 2 hours before mordanting and squeezed to remove the excess liquid.

Mordanting 

Use alum mordant at 10% by weight of goods and dissolve it in hot water. Place this solution to one side.

For 100g of dry material use around two litres (i.e. about 20 times the weight of material) of water and add a small quantity of citric or acetic acid (vinegar) to the water to achieve 4pH.

Heat the pan to 60°C and add the alum solution and stir well. Then add the 100g wetted material to the mordant pan and stir slowly every 5-10 minutes for up to an hour.

Dyeing 

To develop the colour for 100g material use 10g of Turquoise Blue Natural Dye or Forest Green Natural Dye dissolved in a small amount of hot water. Pass the solution through a coffee filter or fine sieve to remove any undissolved dye and place solution to one side.

Use two litres (i.e. about 20 times of dyeing material) of water and, importantly, add Citric Acid or Vinegar to give the water a pH level of 2.

Heat the liquid to 60°C and add the solution of dissolved dye. Add the 100g of mordanted material (with the alum mordant solution squeezed out) turning the material carefully whilst the pan is taken to boiling. Keep the temperature at 100°C for a further 45 minutes without agitating the material and then switch off.

Wash the material to remove unfixed dye particles from the material and allowed to dry.

Visit the website to view the Fibrecrafts range of natural dyes