Check out our video recording and Q&A for our new cold water mordant Aluminum Triformate!
Botanical Colors’ President Kathy Hattori took us on a one hour review on and demo using aluminum triformate. She showed show results of tests and experiments using the cold water mordant and answered lots of questions.
Watch the recording here.
Shop Aluminum Triformate here
About:
Aluminum triformate is a room temperature mordant for all natural fibers including wool, silk, cotton, hemp and linen. It also works on a gpL (grams per Liter) calculation or a weight of fiber (WOF) percentage and we’ve used it successfully with both methods.
Each of these methods have their advantages for the artisan dyer. If you want to dip a scarf or two in mordant and then move on to dyeing without a lot of calculating, then the gpL method is good for you as there is no additional weighing, heating or handling hot mordanted items. If you are a wool dyer, the room temperature solution avoids felting or harshness through overheating. On the other hand, if you need to keep careful records and repeat colors with consistency, then the WOF method will make it easy to reproduce your process.
Aluminum Triformate Advantages
- Room temperature mordanting – no additional energy necessary other than warm water when starting your mordant bucket.
- Saves water as you re-use the mordant bath until the mordant is consumed and you can add more mordant liquid as necessary (bucket method).
- Aluminum triformate is easy to use with minimal odor or wafting powder and dissolves easily.
- Works well on all fibers and keeps wool fibers from being overhandled as compared to other mordant methods.
- 200 grams (7 ounces) is reported to dye up to 5kg (11 lbs) of fibers. Results may vary due to fiber type, weight and other factors.
If you choose the gpL calculation, mix up a batch of the solution and mordant at room temperature for multiple baths. Once the liquid level and the mordant strength seems to be lessening, you can “top off” the bath with additional solution. If you keep track of your fiber weights and how long your fiber is in the mordant, you will be able to track when to add more mordant solution and keep your mordant bucket going.
You can also use aluminum triformate the same as our other mineral mordants and calculate the weight of fiber (WOF) and create a mordant bath, immerse your fibers in the room temperature bath, hold for 4 hours, and then remove, rinse, and proceed to dyeing. This is a good method if you need to replicate the same process to achieve the same results. Keep in mind that there is still plenty of mordant left in your mordant bath and you can save it and reuse it for other projects.
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