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 am growing soybeans to make soy milk to use as a binding agent and am wondering if it’s possible that the entire plant contains the necessary proteins, or if it’s solely in the beans?
KATHY ANSWERED: If you do a search on soybean leaves and protein, a lot of information comes up. It appears as if the leaves contain protein but I don’t have the training to translate how much protein and what quality it is or assess if it’s suitable for use as a binder the way the beans are used. It’s also possible that the soybean itself has other chemicals that help with binding (starches? fats? sugars?) Finally, I’m speculating that the reason soybeans are used rather than the whole plant is that they’re easy to purchase, store, process and use. If you’re really interested, you can try some experiments and process the plant matter and the beans separately and test them out. We’d love to hear your results!
YOU ASKED: I am curious to try your aluminum triformate, and I’m wondering if you think it works just as well on cellulose fibers as other alum mordants? I realize it is great for protein fibers because it’s a cold water mordant, but it would be great if I could use it for multiple projects! Also, have you found this mordant to work well with liquid and powdered extracts?
KATHY ANSWERED: I’ve found that aluminum triformate is a very good general mordant for cold mordanting wool. It also works with cellulose fibers as well. If you are using the “bucket” method of creating a mordant bath that you store in between uses, yes, you can use for multiple projects. I’ve found it works well with natural dye extracts but that cellulose fibers need to be rinsed prior to use as it is acidic and can shift colors.
YOU ASKED: I want to create gray on cellulose by using an oak gall tannin followed by an iron modifier. My question is should I rinse the tannin before modifying?
KATHY ANSWERED: If the fabric is coming out of the tannin bath with no sediment, then you should be able to modify it without rinsing. But if you have sediment or spots of tannin on the fabric, a light rinse would be helpful so you don’t have unwanted marks on the fabric.