Limited Color Range of Natural Dyes 



At first glance the range of hues made with natural dyestufFs may seem 

 disappointingly narrow. More than half the dye recipes in this book 

 produce yellows — from light and bright to dark and dull — with the em- 

 phasis on the neutral end of the saturation scale. Beyond these, a few 

 browns, grays, oranges, and reds are included, with one each of purple and 

 blue. Some 18th- and 19th-century textile dyers who were keenly aware of 

 the color liniitations of native natural dye materials searched the world for 

 new sources of permanent dyes. Others with little concern for lasting 

 results, and with an eye on profits, lowered their standards of colorfastness 

 to broaden their stock of salable colors by using dyes they knew would fade 

 in sunlight and washing. 



Most color names listed with the dye recipes are descriptive and should 

 be self-explanatory, e.g., light greenish yellow, dark brown, etc. If they 

 seem general, they are deliberately so, because of the above-mentioned 

 variations inherent in natural dyes. Even though there is seldom a direct 

 reference to saturation in these color names, the purest colors result from 

 using fresh, carefully selected flowers or other plant material and strict 

 adherence to mordanting and dyeing time and temperature requirements. 

 The color names not found in any color chart, such as brass and khaki, 

 can be checked in the "Dictionary of Color" by Maerz and Paul. Because 

 the color plates in that book were printed in 1930 and the paper on which 

 they were printed has changed color, these now only roughly approximate 

 the authors' original color swatches. Flag red, the only color not included 

 in the color dictionary, can be interpreted as a pure red of medium value. 



Fiber, Yarn, and Piece Dyeing 



We have just noted the color limitations imposed by natural dyestuflfs. 

 Working with textile materials, however, the craftsman has an unusual 

 opportunity to niix colors to achieve unique effects. Top-dyeing (see p. 107), 

 the most obvious way of expanding the range of colors, consists of dipping 

 a textile into several different dyebaths in succession. Thus, dipping a cloth 

 into a blue vat then a yellow dyebath will make green; red and yellow 

 dippings will result in orange, etc. The technique can be applied to any 

 combination of colors, although generally the dyes producing the clearest 

 colors are best for top-dyeing. 



The way a textile is processed — starting with very fine individual raw 

 fibers, combining these into lengths of yarn, and finally weaving the yarn 

 into sheets of cloth — makes it possible for the dyer to color textile material 

 while in the fiber, yarn, or cloth stage. Fiber-dyeing, most frequently 



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