Using natural dye for fabric has a special place in my heart. As I have used it while I was in art and design college. At that time I didn’t have a garden as I was living in a flat.
For my finally project I made a gown out of indigo and made holes in the habotai silk using household bleach. It was to show how one’s body is being destroyed by diseases that affects the body. The use of natural dye to represent the human body. A bit of modern conceptual art there!! I still remember so much about it till more than 10 years latter ?!!
So most of my natural dyeing start off from buying mordants and natural dye powders. I did use a bit of onion skins and tumeric.
Then recently I got back into fabric printing. I decided to use synthetic dyes as I have never tried them before. Moreover the colours produce from synthetic dyes are definitely more vibrant than the natural dye. I wrote a blog about it Mono print on fabric
I had long thoughts about using synthetic dyes recently as in a long run I didn’t want to environment to be ruin. Now I am a gardener as well so it just makes sense for me to go back to using natural dyes again. I am now trying to make it as natural possible sometimes it is not always possible especially if one is trying to produce great effects out of it. As some natural dyes would not adhere to the fabric with the use of mordants.
Mordants can be in many forms some are toxic and some are non toxic to the environment. It is something to consider when using them.
