We love rainbows, color gradations, anything to show off the beauty and nuance of natural dyes. And now with our pre-mordanted bandanas, you can make a rainbow of your own!
Materials
Experience level
Familiarity with using natural dye extracts, or using raw materials in an immersion dye bath, and with overdyeing colors. Familiarity with indigo and indigo over dyeing.
A 6 pack of pre-mordanted bandanas
Yellow
- Use weld extract or osage orange sawdust
Orange
- Madder extract overdye of Yellow
Red
Green
- Indigo overdye of Yellow
Blue or Indigo
Purple
- Logwood extract, or Logwood Chips, or Liquid Logwood
Process
In this rainbow, the “primary” colors of Yellow, Red and Blue along with Purple are not over dyed as you can create those colors with a single dye bath. Both Orange and Green are achieved as over dyes of the color Yellow.
Yellow
Dye 3 bandanas with weld extract at 3%. If using osage orange, use about 40% shavings on weight of fabric. You should get a nice bright yellow shade. When done, rinse all the bandanas well and set aside one to dry. This is your yellow bandana.
Red
Dye 1 bandana a strong red using Madder extract at 4% wof. You should get a rich red color. When done, rinse it set it aside. This is your red bandana.
Orange
Using the same dye bath, take one wetted out yellow bandana and carefully add it to the leftover madder bath. There should be enough dye left in the dye bath to dye it a nice orange shade.
Blue
Dye 1 bandana blue using an indigo vat to achieve a medium dark blue. Allow to oxidize, then rinse it set it aside. This is your blue bandana.
Green
Take the last yellow bandana, dampen it, and dip it in indigo until it is the green color that you like. Light dips will create more of a lime green, medium dips will create more of a teal green. Allow to oxidize fully. Rinse and set aside. This is your green bandana.
Purple
Dye 1 bandana with Rich Purple Logwood at 3%, or Liquid Logwood at 6% or Logwood Shavings at 10%. When done, rinse it set it aside. This is your purple bandana.
Congratulations! You’ve created your own unique rainbow!
