Natural Dyes > Dyes

Dyes

Madder

Madder is a beautiful, permanent red dye from the roots of a pretty, viney, low growing herb. It has been cultivated in Europe and the Middle East for at least 5,000 years. Similar wild varieties have been used by Native Americans and in the Far East.

Pictured clockwise from left:
(1) Madder Orange on wool, tin mordant, second extraction
(2) Madder Oriental Carpet red on handspun longwool, alum mordant
(3) silk yarn and fabric dyed Madder Orange, tin mordant.
Dyework by Master Natural Dyer, Cheryl Kolander, who brings you this quality Madder Root.

Think of the red grounds in antique Oriental carpets: These are Madder colours on wool. On silk the colours tend to be more coral or orange; on cotton the colours are to the more rosy coral. The true "Turkey Red" which is the bright clear red of antique cotton quilts, was acheived on cotton thru a multi step dye process. No longer mythical, Aurora Silk is the proud distributor of true Turkey Red dyed in the traditional manner, using the Asian variety called Mungeet.

Brick red with alum, bright orange with tin; burgundy with chrome; off-black with iron. Very fast to both washing and light. Also fast to acids, sweat, baby drool, etc. This is a softer red than Cochineal, Lac or Brazilwood, but is superior in fastness.

On wool, expect to use 100% by weight for a rich red on an alum mordant. For extra dark red I dye twice, using 100% each time. Lighter shades need much less dye. I especially like the bright clear orange gotten by re-boiling the roots a second and even third time, then dyeing on a tin mordant. Rich tones edging into violet can be had by after-mordants of iron, copper or chrome. - Cheryl

Cut pieces of Madder Root — finest grade from Turkey (may be cut pieces or ground, either extracts very well.)

 

4 oz

$12

1 lb

$30

5 lbs = wholesale

$120

Roots, whole

These whole roots should be soaked overnight and the soaking water discarded; add fresh water and SLOWLY bring to a boil. It extracts better if ground - small amounts can be ground in an old coffee grinder.

 

Raise temperature slowly, over one hour, then keep at HOT but not a boil for about 30 minutes. Decant this liquid tea* water, then add enough household non-sudzing ammonia till the hot water turns rosy instead of orange. Volume of water has to be enough to move around easily, because madder is a fast uptake dye. Or crowd it, because this characteristic in reverse makes madder a good tie-dye colour.

Then use the same roots for BEST ORANGE: boil the already once extracted roots. For an hour or more. Let your water be acid. Use on a tin mordant. This is the colour often found in the antique, thus Naturally Dyed Oriental Carpets, which causes the non-immitiate to exclaim: Oh! but it can't be Naturally Dyed and be that BRIGHT!" - Cheryl

4 oz

$10

1 lb

$22

5 lbs = wholesale

$80

1 kilo = Wholesale

$40

5 kilo = wholesale

$150

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