We get lots of emails from customers about challenges with dyeing and needing Botanical Colors’ President Kathy Hattori’s help. Why not share the learning so we can all benefit? From our inboxes to you, it’s simple: You Asked, Kathy Answered. Email questions@botanicalcolors.com with your plea for help!
YOU ASKED: I’m considering adding a tannin to my order. But I have a question: does it make sense to tannin bathe an alum + washing soda print prior to dye bath? What I mean is scour > tannin bath > dry fabric > print pattern with mordant paste > dry > wheat bran bath > dye fabric. Would the tannin be effective if I dry the fabric then print?
KATHY ANSWERED: We find that tannin is very helpful with getting more saturated colors on plant fibers when we are dyeing solid shades, but if you are trying to only have the dye strike where the pattern is printed and mordanted, it may not be necessary and could produce an undesirable effect as the tannin will attract the dye in your final step and color the background as well as the mordanted area. You might experiment with adding tannin to your mordant paste to see if that helps with color development but we have never done this so can’t really advise you what the results might be. I hope that helps clarify why we use tannin.
Thanks for emailing!
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