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: Good morning and thank you so much for this opportunity of free knowledge that you give us. I saw in your madder recipe to put the dye at 145/160 degrees? The recipe says that to make a real red, the temperature must not exceed 80 degrees otherwise it turns brown. But it is also true that in the recipes I have neither sodium carbonate nor calcium carbonate is used. Thank you very much again, your site is always full of very interesting news.
KATHY ANSWERED: Apologies, we did not specify our temperature measurements were in Fahrenheit. The madder extract has been purified so that it doesn’t go brown from red but we still don’t raise the temperature above 160F or 71C.
You might also like to read:
You Asked, Kathy Answered: Using Madder Root In An Indigo Fermentation Vat
FEEDBACK FRIDAY: This Week in Natural Dye Questions (madder on cotton and does it ever go bad?)
The Matter of Madder in the Ancient World
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