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Colour Charts

Natural Dyes & Mordants

These are the most popular, fastest dyes available for natural dyeing, and the colours you can expect with the different mordants.

Dyes

Mordants

Alum

Tin

Chrome

Iron

Copper

Brazilwood

Xmas red to garnet

pink

deep maroon

off-black

-

Catechu

yellow-brown

-

red-brown

brown-black

medium brown

Cochineal

crimson

scarlet

lavender to violet

gray-violet to black

-

Fustic

yellow

aurora (yellow-orange)

gold

soft green

soft green

Indigo

blue - no mordant needed

Logwood

blue-violet

purple

blue-black

silver, gray, black

gray

Madder

brick red

bright orange

burgundy

off-black

-

Weld

yellow

cool lemon yellow

rich yellow

sage

soft green

Iron is often used to modify other colours. By itself it mostly results in shades of gray, but as an after-dye application it can modify your colours. See How To Use Natural Dyes for more information.

Cream of Tartar can be used with tin to protect the fibre, and with other combinations for special effects.

Oxalic Acid can be used to balance your tones if your water is alkaline.

Catechu requires a small amount of copper to be used with all the other mordants.

If no colour is indicated on the above chart it means either that:

  • It yielded a colour I didn't particularly like or was unexciting.
  • It yielded a colour that could be better attained with some other combination.
  • I just haven't experimented with that combination much. (ie I don't work with copper much).

BUT, I encourage you to play around with these yourself, because you may find a colour that really works for you. Natural dyeing is not an exact science and colour preferences are a matter of taste.

Specific Directions:

For more detailed dyeing recipes, read Brilliant colours with Natural Dyes by Cheryl Kolander.