MORDANT MONDAY: Alum + Tannin & Line Fade

Whole and Ground Oak Galls

We get mordant questions all the time at Botanical Colors so why not create Mordant Monday??? Got mordanting questions? Email [email protected]

YOU ASKED: I live in India and where I live there is a lot of rust in the water.  When I have tried to do a tannin-alum procedure before dyeing I noticed as soon as I put my fabric in the alum after the oak gall soak my fabric turns grey!!!  The alum I have is alum sulfate for cotton because I don’t have alum acetate.  I am trying symplocos now. Any suggestions how to avoid staining all material grey??

KATHY ANSWERED: One of the best pieces of advice that another natural dyer gave me was to “love your water”. She was encouraging me to accept the water quality that I had and to create beautiful shades because no one else would be able to get the colors I was achieving. So what is happening with the water you are using is that the iron is reacting to the tannin to create a gray color on the fabric. Although it’s probably a surprise, I would encourage you to continue to the alum mordant step, which might lighten the gray a little bit, and then also proceed with dyeing. The bonus here is that your colors will be slightly darker and more saturated, and that little touch of iron may help with lightfastness, along with the tannin and alum!

YOU ASKED: I have a few pieces that after mordanting and hung over a line, when I collect it the next day it has a line fade down the middle where it hung to dry. Can you please help?

KATHY ANSWERED: We recommend drying naturally dyed goods in the shade, and also to pin the fabric to a line to avoid unwanted marks.