Red Sandalwood Powder and Final Thoughts on Mordant Concentration Experiment

Another Indian dye that we tested this winter was red sandalwood....I am very fond of this wood for a few different reasons....First of all it offers a wide range of pinks, corals, and salmon shades....But my main attraction is the emotional attachment that Dominique and I developed to sandalwood and red sandalwood while living in Mysore. This proud city in Karnataka used to be the sandalwood capital of the world....Today the sandalwood forest are gone, and when I think of them from time to time, remember the smell of sandal smoke rising from burning charcoal, or read stories of small idyllic ashrams nestled in pristine sandal forest, and not being able to experience them, I do get the occasional sandalwood blues....

Sandalwood cultivation, processing and export are tightly controlled by the Indian gov't. In this case I am not sure if this involvement is a part of the solution or the problem causing the scarcity and the very high prices.

Red sandal which is related to real, yellow, sandal by name alone and nothing else is extensively used in ayurvedic medicine. It does not yield to the chisel and the hammer as gracefully as sandalwood, but all the sandal carving workshops also work with this wood, mainly for their marquetry pieces. It is also used as a dye. Though in retrospect I must say that it is not very light fast, and would recommend using madder or other more readily replenishable natural dyeing resources to get some of these colors.

Back to the the subject at hand. Just as with all the other dyes in this experiment we did a hot bath and a cold bath. The colors we obtained from both were basically the same, so I will only post the results for the hot baths, but will use the cold or solar process in our production dyeing, subject to the results of light fastness tests.

First unmordanted local wool.

Since presently we are running new experiments this will probably be my last post on the mordant concentration tests that we ran this winter. I will try to summarize what I have learned from this rather tedious and long adventure. Also, I am leaving out the concentrations here, but they follow similar patterns to those illustrated in previous postings.

First of all alum. From the perspective of bright colors, it is my favorite mordant next to tin, but of course it is much easier on the fibers. I am just a bit concerned about its light fastness esp. with.yellow. (It is about a month since we hung the samples outside for our tests, and yes sun giveth, but it doth also taketh away.)

In the majority of cases the 25% straight alum gave me the best results and I will try to use this concentration in our production work. Addition of CoT has a favorable effect on the fiber quality, but sometimes dulls the color and generally limits the color range. In general the addition CoT gives pastel tones, some of which can be very interesting in their own right. When I run future tests on new dyes I will most likely use two concentrations of alum, pure at 25 and 10/2 with CoT. Of course all of this and further observations are still subject to the light fastness results. Different concentrations of alum can often give striking results. But this varies from dye to dye and in case of red sandal the differences were minimal.

Red Sandal on copper. Before I undertook this journey into mordants copper was my favorite. I am very partial to deep-earthly tones, the shades of autumn leaves, the colors of olives, and things of that nature. In this department copper is king. Sometimes, when it muddles the colors too much it disappoints me. Thankfully it does not happen too often. One of the more pleasant surprises is how it deepens some of the lighter dyes, like the yellow of pomegranate and berberis (that did not appeal to me originally, but I have grown to appreciate as I was looking over the samples). I prefer copper at lower concentrations and in the near future will stick with two variations: 2% pure and a 2% with addition of acetic acid. I am still not convinced about the roles of the assistants here, but will continue to experiment with them for the time being. Out of the 4 mordants we tested this time, copper I think showed the least response to mordant concentration and assistants.

Red sandal on iron. Best for dark grays, brown, violets, etc...but does give interesting results on light dyes as well. Not always, but often, the different concentrations result in different colors. This is a good example. I was a bit perplexed by the fact that my assistants (CoT and sodium sulfate) showed more fiber damage than straight iron and will have to study the effects of assistants on this mordant in more detail as well.

Iron and tin were the two mordants that surprised me the most during this round of tests. They both left a unique set of questions that I plan to pursue in future tests. In case of iron it is the difference in color that different concentrations produce. It is probably fair to say that iron will give deeper and darker tones in proportion to concentration, regardless the dye material used. Our tests went up to 4% (this is considered high). This level gave us quite a few 'midnight' tones of bronze, violet, purple, brown, burgundy, gray, etc...but nothing approaching the elusive black on wool. One of our future experiments will involve further work with iron and dark organic mordants, with black color (on wool) and fiber stability in mind. If anyone has any suggestions along those lines, they would be welcomed.

When I included tin in these test, it was mainly out of curiosity without any intention of using it in production work. But for better or worse I fell in love with the intense colors that it can produce. Often, but not always as the case of red sandal demonstrates, they are stronger than the ones offered with alum. Some of the best yellows, pinks, oranges, etc...were captured by tin. I am still awaiting the fastness results with great anticipation. From what I can see already, some of these colors are fading, but many seem to persist.

Tin like iron and alum is responsive to mordant concentrations, and in the near future we will use two concentration. In most probability 2% and 8%. It was also pointed out that tin works best in the dye bath itself and not as a premordant. This we still have to try.

The biggest problem posed by tin is its effect on fiber stability. It was with tin in mind that we undertook our next round of tests. They are supposed to give us a better idea of relationship between temperature/duration and effects of mordants on fiber structure. Presently we are running mordanting experiments with solar baths, vat baths and hot baths at different temperatures and durations...

So this is it! We tested 5 other dyes with very similar results as the examples I described previously.

Was it worth it? I did not keep track of how long it took us to spin and ply the wool, to make a few thousand baby skeins, prepare over 30 mordant baths and another 30 dye baths. But I estimate that it would take one person 2 to 3 months of full-time commitment. In our case, where we are planning to start our production dyeing this year or at the very latest next year, it was a well rewarded effort, which I believe will save us lots of heartache and disappointments in the future. Or at the very least, it will limit them considerably.

Our original question was to determine whether it is worthwhile to use different mordant concentrations and assistant partnerships or just to stick with the proven formulas. I think we got a clear answer to this and will continue to experiment with each mordant in at least two (in some cases more) concentrations. Mordant concentrations and assistant partnerships do make a difference on the final color, fiber structure, the coloring capacity of a dye, and possibly light fastness. So we will continue to run these tests, in small batches, with all new dyes and local plants that we use...

Of course every answer we received brought with it new questions. Possibly these questions represent the biggest reward, as we pursue them in the future....

Pomegranate Skin or Anarchilka

We were supposed to go trekking this weekend, but the weather did not cooperate. So here I am hoping to finish the last 6 dyes that we tested in this mordant concentration batch.


Pomegranate is another common Indian dye. It is used all over the country from Tamil Nadu to Kashmir, and offers a wide range of colors. I bought the dried peel in the market. We have wild pomegranate growing all over the mountains in this valley and I will experiment with that dye in the fall.


One of the most interesting things here is that we obtained much better colors with the cold baths than we did with the hot ones.


Again, cold baths come first. They were done around 10 degree C, for about 7 days with a 1/1 fiber to dye ratio.


Pemegranage on alum, in a cold bath: 1. Al 5%; 2. Al 5% + CoT 5%; 3. Al 10%; 4. Al 10% + CoT 10%; 5. Al 50% + CoT 15% ; 6. Al 25% + CoT 25%; 7. Al 15% + CoT 5%; 8. Al 25%; 9. Al 50%.

I am in the process of reading Walter Gardner's book on wool dyeing from 1904, in it he warns against using pure alum as a mordant due to the fact that it builds up on the surface of the fibers, without deep penetration,  and falls off in the dye bath. Others feel that high concentrations of alum leave a sticky hand (feel) on the fibers. Both of these are most likely referring to the same phenomena. As I go over the results of these experiments, (and this will take a few months, since there is lots of interesting info to digest here), I will try to address some of these concerns and see how they reflected in our tests.


In general I can say that alum is rather gentle on our wool, even at high concentrations and that the hand of the wool is always better with the cot than without it, and at lower concentrations than it is at higher ones. Yet the differences in hand are relatively small, and tend to vary, with the dye used and they dyeing method. It will be interesting to see how these higher concentrations work in larger batches of yarn, and also how they stand up to fastness tests.  As far as the sticky build-up is concerned (and Gardner's warning), from what I can see so far a large portion of it can be washed away with a few good washes after mordanting.


Furthermore, and to me this was an interesting observation, the differences in color that I have noticed from different concentrations are clearly more pronounced with pure alum than they are with the alum+cot combination. In many of the samples the cot combo results in basically the same color, no matter the concentration. This is not so with pure alum, which usually gives deeper and richer tones in higher concentrations....


It is also becoming very clear that we have to consider the dyes and colors involved. For instance pure alum, gives much better madder reds than the colors obtained with cot addition. While the yellows obtained above with the addition of cot, from pomegranate, are quite superior to the colors offered by pure alum. So far I have only considered the yellows and reds in detail and will have to look at the other colors when time permits.




Pomegranate on copper, in a cold bath: 1. Cu 1%; 2. Cu 1%  + 2% Citric Acid; 3.Cu 2%  + 4% Citric Acid; 4.  Cu 2%; 5. Cu 4%; 6. Cu 4%  + 8% Citric Acid; 7. Cu 8%; 8. Cu 8%  + 10% Citric Acid.

Again, up to 2% fibers are great, after that not so good. I probably should have used acidic acid, but had none, and the citric acid after 4% is too strong. Nevertheless the third color with citric is my favorite and here the fibers are still good. At 3% and 4%, the fibers with citric show more damage, than those with copper alone.


Pomegranate on iron, in a cold bath: 1. 1% Fe; 2. 1% Fe + 2% CoT + 1% Glauber’s Salt; 3. 2% Fe; 4. 2% Fe + 4% CoT + 2% Glauber’s Salt; 5. 4% Fe; 6. 4% Fe + 6% CoT + 4% Glauber’s Salt.

There are nice differences in shades and colors of the different concentrations...


Pomegrantare on tin, in a cold bath: forgive me but I have to omit the concentrations here.

Pomegranate on merino, in a cold bath: 1. Al 15% + CoT 5%; 2. Cu 4%  + 8% Citric Acid; 3. 4% Sn + 4% Oxalic Acid; 4.  2% Fe + 4% CoT + 2% Glauber’ Salt.

This picture and the one below, really illustrate how versatile pomegranate dye can be and why it is an Indian favorite.


Pomegranate on angora/merino blend, in a cold bath: 1. Al 15% + CoT 5%; 2. Cu 4%  + 8% Citric Acid; 3. 4% Sn + 4% Oxalic Acid; 4. 2% Fe + 4% CoT + 2% Glauber’ Salt.

This angora blend is slowly becoming my favorite...Angora and cashmere are the main fibers we work with... I was very worried about how they will react to mordants and natural dyes...But seeing all these beautiful results that we have gotten with angora, makes my heart jump with joy...I cannot overstate how beautifully they have accepted the dye and the fiber quality is superb with all four mordants...


On the same note, I am starting to believe that most of the problems that I have experienced with tin, copper and to some degree iron are due to the structure of our local wool fibers...They are not nearly as strong as the merino wool and angora....Every cloud has a silver lining and in this case the good thing is that they give a quick indication of how strongly the mordants affect wool.


And now we pass to the hot baths. This one was about an hour with an overnight soak.


Pomegranate on alum, in a hot bath: 1. Al 5%; 2. Al 5% + CoT 5%; 3. Al 10%; 4. Al 10% + CoT 10%; 5. Al 25%; 6. Al 25% + CoT 25%; 7. Al 50%; 8. Al 50% + CoT 15%; 9. Al 15% + CoT 5%.

Pomegranate on copper, in a hot bath:  1. Cu 1%  + 2% Citric Acid; 2. Cu 2%; 3. Cu 2%  + 4% Citric Acid; 4. Cu 4%; 5. Cu 4%  + 8% Citric Acid; 6. Cu 8%; 7. Cu 8%  + 10% Citric Acid.

As has happened with copper on few occasions, different concentrations and the addition of cot and citric do not make much difference on the colors obtained.


Pomegranate on iron, in a hot bath: 1. 1% Fe; 2. 1% Fe + 2% CoT + 1% Glauber’ Salt; 3. 2% Fe; 4. 2% Fe + 4% CoT + 2% Glauber’ Salt; 5. 4% Fe; 6. 4% Fe + 6% CoT + 4% Glauber’ Salt.

Again, iron, as opposed to copper, keeps on surprising me with the different colors and shades that the mordant determines....


Pomegranate on tin, in a hot bath: it is not an interesting color, so I will ignore the concentrations here.

Pomegranate on merino, in a hot bath: 1.  4% Sn + 4% Oxalic Acid; 2.Cu 4%  + 8% Citric Acid ; 3. Al 15% + CoT 5%; 4. 2% Fe + 4% CoT + 2% Glauber’ Salt.

I have been complaining about merino felting from the beginning. This Monday I visited our mill, a recommendation from Dr. Alam from Himalyan Weavers (a superb outfit) to whom i shall be eternally grateful, and according to the them this merino, which I picked up last year for these experiments from another mill, has about 30% of nylon-like additive. (I can't remember which one exactly). The guys at the mill seemed to think that the nylon was reacting to the acidic environment and causing the felting. I think the angora/merino samples below are more indicative of how good quality merino will behave with these mordants and dyes....From now on I will stop posting the merino samples and just stick to the angoras.


Pomegranate on angora/merino blend, in a hot bath: 1. Cu 4%  + 8% Citric Acid; 2. Al 15% + CoT 5%; 3. 4% Sn + 4% Oxalic Acid; 4. 2% Fe + 4% CoT + 2% Glauber’ Salt.

I might have mentioned it before, but it is well worth repeating...The fiber quality is superb all around, and the look and hand are very close to un-dyed angora. With all the talk of mordants and dyes, these angora samples indicate the importance of the quality of base fibers we work with. They trump over all the other factors.
I also took some time to inspect the differences in hand and appearance closely and can pretty safely say that alum does the least damage. It is followed by iron (which still surprises me), then copper and of course tin does the most damage.....Please keep in mind that the differences are minor.

Butea Monosperma or Tesu Phool

Tesu phool (bastard teak flower) is one of the more popular of the Indian dyes. It offers a versatile range of colors.

Here is what the dried flower looks like:

As always, let's start with the cold baths.


Tesu on alum, in a cold bath: 1. Al 5%; 2. Al 5% + CoT 5%; 3. Al 10%; 4. Al 10% + CoT 10%; 5. Al 25%; 6. Al 25% + CoT 25%; 7. Al 50%; 8. Al 50% + CoT 15%; 9. Al 15% + CoT 5%. 

Tesu on copper, in a cold bath: 1. Cu 1%; 2. Cu 1%  + 2% Citric Acid; 3. Cu 2%; 4. Cu 2%  + 4% Citric Acid; 5. Cu 4%; 6. Cu 4%  + 8% Citric Acid; 7. Cu 8%; 8. Cu 8%  + 10% Citric Acid.

Tesu on iron, in a cold bath: 1. 1% Fe; 2. 1% Fe + 2% CoT + 1% Glauber’ Salt; 3. 2% Fe; 4. 2% Fe + 4% CoT + 2% Glauber’ Salt; 5. 4% Fe; 6. 4% Fe + 6% CoT + 4% Glauber’ Salt.

Tesu on tin, in a cold bath: 1. 2% Sn; 2. 2% Sn + 2% CoT; 3. 2% Sn + 2% Oxalic Acid; 4. 4% Sn + 4% CoT; 5. 4% Sn; 6. 8% Sn; 7. 4% Sn + 4% Oxalic Acid; 8. 8% Sn + 8% CoT; 9. 8% Sn + 8% Oxalic Acid.

Tesu on merino, in a cold bath: 1. Cu 4%  + 8% Citric Acid; 2. Al 15% + CoT 5%; 3. 2% Fe + 4% CoT + 2% Glauber’ Salt; 4. 4% Sn + 4% Oxalic Acid.

Tesu on angora/merino blend, in a cold bath: 1. Al 15% + CoT 5%; 2. Cu 4%  + 8% Citric Acid; 3. 4% Sn + 4% Oxalic Acid; 4. 2% Fe + 4% CoT + 2% Glauber’ Salt

And here are the hot baths.


Tesu on alum, in a hot bath: 1. Al 5%; 2. Al 5% + CoT 5%; 3. Al 10%; 4. Al 10% + CoT 10%; 5. Al 25%; 6. Al 25% + CoT 25%; 7. Al 50%; 8. Al 50% + CoT 15%; 9. Al 15% + CoT 5%. 

Tesu on copper, in a hot bath:  1. Cu 1%  + 2% Citric Acid; 2. Cu 2%; 3. Cu 2%  + 4% Citric Acid; 4. Cu 4%; 5. Cu 4%  + 8% Citric Acid; 6. Cu 8%; 7. Cu 8%  + 10% Citric Acid.

Tesu on iron, in a hot bath: 1. 1% Fe; 2. 1% Fe + 2% CoT + 1% Glauber’ Salt; 3. 2% Fe; 4. 2% Fe + 4% CoT + 2% Glauber’ Salt; 5. 4% Fe; 6. 4% Fe + 6% CoT + 4% Glauber’ Salt.

Tesu on tin, in a hot bath: 1. 2% Sn; 2. 2% Sn + 2% CoT; 3. 2% Sn + 2% Oxalic Acid; 4. 4% Sn + 4% CoT; 5. 4% Sn; 6. 8% Sn; 7. 4% Sn + 4% Oxalic Acid; 8. 8% Sn + 8% CoT; 9. 8% Sn + 8% Oxalic Acid.

Tesu on merino, in a hot bath: 1. Cu 4%  + 8% Citric Acid; 2. Al 15% + CoT 5%; 3. 4% Sn + 4% Oxalic Acid; 4. 2% Fe + 4% CoT + 2% Glauber’ Salt.

Tesu on angora/merino blend, in a hot bath: 1. 2% Fe + 4% CoT + 2% Glauber’ Salt; 2. 4% Sn + 4% Oxalic Acid; 3. Al 15% + CoT 5%; 4. Cu 4%  + 8% Citric Acid.

Berberis chitria

The next dye, in alphabetical order, that we experimented with was from the barberry family, namily berberis chitria, or daru haridra in hindi.

First the cold baths.


I will start out with the picture of the 1 month wet- and dry-aged, 25% alum yarn in a cold bath. The wet is on the left and the dry is on the right.

I really cannot see any difference in these and will stop posting the results of this sub-experiment unless something unusual catches my attention in the future. Again the dry method seems to conserve the fiber quality  a bit better than the wet method.


Berberis on alum, in a cold bath: there was very little different alum concentrations, so I will omit the details this time.

The fiber quality was constant throughout and again the best of all mordants used.


Berberis on copper, in a cold bath: mordant concentrations do not  make much difference here as well, and the colors do not really appeal to me

Berberis on iron, in a cold bath: 1. 1% Fe; 2. 1% Fe + 2% CoT + 1% Glauber’ Salt; 3. 2% Fe; 4. 2% Fe + 4% CoT + 2% Glauber’ Salt; 5. 4% Fe; 6. 4% Fe + 6% CoT + 4% Glauber’ Salt

A nice selection of shades of olive green, and almost identical result to the hot bath.


Berberis on tin, in a cold bath: 1. 2% Sn; 2. 2% Sn + 2% CoT; 3. 2% Sn + 2% Oxalic Acid; 4. 4% Sn; 5. 4% Sn + 4% CoT; 6. 4% Sn + 4% Oxalic Acid; 7. 8% Sn; 8. 8% Sn + 8% CoT; 9. 8% Sn + 8% Oxalic Acid.

Again, the most exciting of the bunch, but the fiber problems persist.


Berberis on merino in a cold bath: 1. 4% Sn + 4% Oxalic Acid; 2. Cu 4%  + 8% Citric Acid; 3. Al 15% + CoT 5%; 4. 2% Fe + 4% CoT + 2% Glauber’ Salt; 

Berberis on angora/merino in a cold bath: 1. Cu 4%  + 8% Citric Acid; 2.Al 15% + CoT 5% ; 3. 2% Fe + 4% CoT + 2% Glauber’ Salt; 4. 4% Sn + 4% Oxalic Acid.

The fiber quality is excellent and even tin is superb.




And here are the hot baths.


Berberis on alum, in a hot bath: 1. Al 5%; 2. Al 5% + CoT 5%; 3. Al 10%; 4. Al 10% + CoT 10%; 5. Al 25%; 6. Al 25% + CoT 25%; 7. Al 50%; 8. Al 50% + CoT 15%; 9. Al 15% + CoT 5%.

Berberis on copper, in a hot bath: 1. Cu 1%; 2. Cu 1%  + 2% Citric Acid; 3. Cu 2%; 4. Cu 2%  + 4% Citric Acid; 5. Cu 4%; 6. Cu 4%  + 8% Citric Acid; 7. Cu 8%; 8. Cu 8%  + 10% Citric Acid.

Berberis on iron, in a hot bath: 1. 1% Fe; 2. 1% Fe + 2% CoT + 1% Glauber’ Salt; 3. 2% Fe; 4. 2% Fe + 4% CoT + 2% Glauber’ Salt; 5. 4% Fe; 6. 4% Fe + 6% CoT + 4% Glauber’ Salt.

Berberis on tin, in a hot bath: 1. 2% Sn; 2. 2% Sn + 2% CoT; 3. 2% Sn + 2% Oxalic Acid; 4. 4% Sn; 5. 4% Sn + 4% CoT; 6. 4% Sn + 4% Oxalic Acid; 7. 8% Sn; 8. 8% Sn + 8% CoT; 9. 8% Sn + 8% Oxalic Acid.

Picking Apple Bark

As some of you know we spend about 6 months per year in India. Over the years we have traveled all over this beautiful country, but decided to make our base in the Kullu Valley in Himachal Pradesh. This is apple country, where a woman's wealth is measured not by suitcases of rupies under the bed, but the number of apple trees in her orchard. Our studio is nestled in an apple orchard.

In the foreground, under the apple trees, are our experimental natural dye plots.


One of the first things we did after arrival was to pick some old apple bark for our dyeing experiments. Of course we only used only old discarded bark. There is an abundance of apple bark here after the trimming season.

Below you find the results of our apple bark as a dye on wool experiments, in combination with different mordants and mordant concentrations. In general, in this case, the mordant ratios had little effect on the color. My favorite color was the pale yellow, on alum in a cold bath...The experiment was a bit disappointing since all the colors were very delicate and in the future if I ever work with this bark I will need to raise the bark to fiber ratio considerably....


Btw, can barks be used as mordants?


Apple bark on unmordanted wool in a cold bath:

Apple bark on alum in a cold bath: Al 5%; 2. Al 5% + CoT 5%; 3. Al 10%; 4. Al 10% + CoT 10%; 5. Al 25%; 6. Al 25% + CoT 25%; 7. Al 50%; 8. Al 50% + CoT 15%; 9. Al 15% + CoT 5%.

Again the fiber quality was outstanding in all of these samples, with hardly any difference in the mordant concentrations.


Apple bark on copper in a cold bath: 1. Cu 1%; 2. Cu 2%;

As in most cold baths, fiber quality is excellent. 


Now we pass to the hot baths.


The next two pictures are a part of small sub-experiment that I ran on two 25% alum mordanted yarns, the first one used 1 month dry-aged yarn and the second a used a sample of 1 month wet-aged yarn. I will return to this in future posts as well. The shades are a bit different, but please draw your own conclusions and compare it to the unaged alum 25% below:

From what I have noticed the fiber quality of the dry aging method is superior to the wet approach, but I still need to confirm this.


Apple bark on alum in a hot bath: 1. Al 5%; 2. Al 5% + CoT 5%; 3. Al 10%; 4. Al 10% + CoT 10%; 5. Al 25%; 6. Al 25% + CoT 25%; 7. Al 50%; 8. Al 50% + CoT 15%; 9. Al 15% + CoT 5%.

Again fiber quality excellent throughout.


Apple bark on copper in a hot bath: 1. Cu 1%; 2. Cu 1%  + 2% Citric Acid; 3. Cu 2%; 4. Cu 2%  + 4% Citric Acid; 5. Cu 4%; 6. Cu 4%  + 8% Citric Acid; 7. Cu 8%; 8. Cu 8%  + 10% Citric Acid.

The problem with copper again is that over 2% it shows considerable effects on the fibers and CoT might be contributing to the damage.  At this point i would like to underline the superiority of the cold bath method with copper as a mordant. When one compares the cold and hot fibers it is hard to imagine that they came from the same batch of premordanted yarn.


Apple bark on iron in a hot bath: 1. 1% Fe; 2. 1% Fe + 2% CoT + 1% Glauber’ Salt; 3. 2% Fe + 4% CoT + 2% Glauber’ Salt; 4. 2% Fe; 5. 4% Fe; 6. 4% Fe + 6% CoT + 4% Glauber’ Salt.

I have a feeling that I will be repeating the same story over and over again.....please bear with me. The problems here are the same that I found with madder and iron. The pure iron fibers are good in all concentrations, and there are differences in color, but the cot and gsalt addition is damaging the fibers and really dulling the colors.....


Apple bark on tin in a hot bath: 1. 2% Sn; 2. 2% Sn + 2% CoT; 3. 2% Sn + 2% Oxalic Acid; 4. 4% Sn; 5. 4% Sn + 4% CoT; 6. 4% Sn + 4% Oxalic Acid; 7. 8% Sn; 8. 8% Sn + 8% CoT; 9. 8% Sn + 8% Oxalic Acid

Same old tin story, some of the colors are brilliant, but the fibers are all damaged.


On some of the dyes we ran additional experiments with 20 micron merino and 50/50 merino/angora blend that we use on our knitted products and scarfs....


Apple bark on merino in a hot bath: 1. Al 15% + CoT 5%; 2. 4% Sn + 4% Oxalic Acid; 3. 2% Fe + 4% CoT + 2% Glauber’ Salt; 4.  Cu 4%  + 8% Citric Acid. 

In the case of merino we had extensive felting with all the mordants. It happened during the mordanting process and we will have to adjust the time and/or the method in the future. Merino is the hardest fiber for us to work with. All of the top quality merino comes from Australia and is heavily processed in India before it reaches our mill. It is the only fiber that we use that we do not have control of during its processing, and unfortunately this shows in the results.


Apple bark on angora/merino blend in a hot bath: 1. Al 15% + CoT 5%; 2. Cu 4%  + 8% Citric Acid; 3. 2% Fe + 4% CoT + 2% Glauber’ Salt; 4. 4% Sn + 4% Oxalic Acid.

Angora has been a pleasant surprise. I was a bit worried about this delicate fiber and yet it came out much better than merino. We use our own unprocessed angora in this blend and it makes a huge difference, making up for the shortcomings of merino. A bit of felting with copper and slight rougness on tin. But all in all this is my best tin sample so far. I am very surprised...