Main constituents :luteolin, flavones (minor – apigénine, chrysoeriol).
This natural dye extract does contain nearly 51% more of natural color than our traditional extract. Deep yellows obtained at pH 8.0.

Uses :
Natural dyeing and textile printing : Weld extract is from the main European dye plant resource for yellow shades. It can be used with any kind of fiber, combined with any mordant and most other dye extracts to obtain a very wide range of lightfast colours. For deep yellows, this dye develops best in slightly hard water – for example by adding  sodium carbonate or calcium carbonate (chalk) for instance to set up your bath to pH 8.0.

Products not intended for food or dietary supplements.

The plant :
Weld or Dyer’s weed (Reseda luteola L.) is one of the most oldest dye plants used for yellow colour. It was classified as “grand teint” (color fast). The whole plant is a good source of natural dye, except the root. It was used as a natural dyestuff since the Roman Antiquity or Prehistoric times. Its use widely spread from the Middle Age and weld was grown in England, in France, in Belgium and in the southeast of Germany.

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Main constituents : laccaic acid. This extract is manufactured in India.

Uses :
Natural dye and textile printing : the colours obtained are similar to those resulting from cochineal. However, this extract provides better lightfastness and washfastness especially on silk and wool. Shades from purple to red are obtained according to the conditions of dyeing.

Products not intended for food or dietary supplements.

The insect, shellac, lack dye :
The lac insects are bred on various trees in India, in the southeast of Asia, Nepal and in the South of China since millenniums. They produce a resin, harvested on branch pieces named “sticklac”, that contains the red colouring agent also present in larvas and eggs. The resin, known under the name of “shellac” is widely used in cabinetmaking, music intruments making and protection of wooden works. It works as a real natural varnish. Purified shellacs are used in food (E904) and in pharmacy. The colouring agent is isolated from resin to become the ” lac-dye ” more easy to dye than the raw resin (that was formerly used but makes the fibers sticky).

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THIS PRODUCT IS NOT SIMPLY GROUND TARA PODS BUT AN EXTRACT WITH A HIGHER TANNIN CONTENT

Main constituents : Gallic acid derived hydrolysable tannins (around 5 gallic acid units per tannin unit). Tannin content > 95%. This tannin has a low colour.

Uses :
Mordanting cellulose fibers : Tara extract is rich in tannins. In pre-mordanting baths, tara extract enhances the mordant fixation on cellulosic fibers, usually more difficult to dye.

Dyeing and textile printing of natural fibers : Tara extract provides shades from beige to grey and black according to the dyebath. Tara also allows to dye in purplish black the wool and cotton, with iron sulfate.

Other uses : tannery, iron gall ink preparation.

Products not intended for food.

The plant :
Tara is a thorny shrub native from Peru. It is a widely spread species in Central America. Peru is the main producer of tara where it is grown in agroforestry systems. Pods are an important source of tannins. Tara gum is produced from the seeds. This plant is also used by local populations for its traditional medicinal properties.

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Main constituents : Gallic and ellagic acid derived hydrolysable tannins.

Uses :
Mordanting cellulose fibers : In pre-mordanting baths, myrobalan extract enhances the mordant fixation on cellulosic fibers, usually more difficult to dye (tannins ellagic bring a light yellow bottom), but also on the protein fibers, for the obtaining of numerous nuances.

Dyeing and textile printing of natural fibers : Shades from yellow brownish to brown for the cotton and the wool, can be obtained with a mordançage in the alum. In combination with the iron, it is one of the bases of numerous dark nuances, black, grey.

Other uses : tannery, ink preparation.

Products not intended for food.

The plant :
Chebulic Myrobalan (Terminalia chebula Retz) grows in the forests of diverse regions of Asia (India, Nepal, Burma, China and Bangladesh). It had been introduced in tropical Africa where individual trees are sometime cultivated. It is the medium-sized tree that recognizes itself in its fruits with measuring two in four centimeters and the color of which varies between the black, the brown-orangy color and the yellow when ripe.

Fruits of Terminalia chebula are rich in tannins and are used on a great scale in India in tannery. They are also used for the dye and the printing, at the same time as auxiliary ingredients and as colouring agents; their tannins act as mordents and fix colouring agents on the cotton. The myrobalan is also used as a mordant and in the silk spinning industry to give some weight back to degummed silk.

The Chinese doctors used the myrobalan for 1000 years to handle numerous diseases as well as to look after wounds and strengthen the body. The plant is also used in medicine in India from the antiquity.

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Products not intended for food.

The plant :
Madder is one of the oldest dye plants used. Its scientific name means “dyer’s red”. It was well known and classified as “Grand teint” for its good lightfastness. The words “rouge garance” and “garance” entered the current French vocabulary.

Native from the Middle East, it was introduced in Europe since the Antiquity where it was intensively grown in several areas from the Middle Ages, as Flanders, Holland, the North, East and South of France where it brought prosperity at these times.

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Main constituents : Hydrolysables tannins > 95 %.
Yellowish powder in granular form producing almost no dust during handling. Very good solubility in cold or hot water.

Uses :
Pre-treatment of vegetable fibers : The high tannic acid content of this gallnut extract is perfect for the pre-treatment of cellulosic fibres (named engallage in this case) to improve the fixation of mordant during the mordanting step.

THIS TANNIN HAS A VERY LOW COLOUR. RECOMMEND FOR ENGALLAGE STEPS.

Natural dyeing and printing textile : any fiber can be dyed with oak gallnuts. It does increase lightfasntess of the resulting colours. In presence of iron sulphate, this extract forms very solid and very dark complexes. This property allows to use the extract of gallnut for shading (with iron sulphate) after dark shades (madder, indigo) on silk and wool. This makes these shades even darker while limiting the iron sulphate (which makes these fibers weak).

Other uses : tannery, manufacture of iron gall inks.

Products not intended for food.

The plant : 
The Chinese sumach is a shrub of 2 to 10 m tall. It is common of the Northeastern India, in China, Japan, Korea and Indonesia. Galls are caused by the sting of an insect on leaves or petioles. The gallnuts of Sumach are very rich in hydrolysables tannins (tannic acid).

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Main constituents : condensed tannins (proanthocyanidols) and flavonols (quercetin).

Uses :
Pre-treatment of vegetable fibers : cutch extract is rich in condensed tannins that enhance the mordant fixation on cellulosic fibers. This tannin is dark and it is a good source for brown shades. It will bring a thorough basis colour to your textiles.

Natural dyeing and textile printing : this plant extract also allows to dye with or without mordant. There is enough tannin in cutch so mordanting with another tannin is not required. The resulting shades cover almost all the range of browns. Cutch has excellent light and washfastness properties.

Other uses : tannery, glues for wood works.

The plant :
Acacia catechu is a small thorny tree native from South Asia. It is grown in Indonesia, East Africa and in tropical America. It has been used for long times by the dyeing and tannery industries. The wood extract of this acacia tree is rich in tannin (until 60 %). The former “catechic tannins” class was named after the name of this species.

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Main constituents : luteolin, flavones (minor – apigénine, chrysoeriol).

Uses :
Natural dyeing and textile printing : Weld extract is from the main European dye plant resource for yellow shades. It can be used with any kind of fiber, combined with any mordant and most other dye extracts to obtain a very wide range of lightfast colours. For deep yellows, this dye develops best in slightly hard water – for example by adding  sodium carbonate or calcium carbonate (chalk) to your bath.

The plant :
Weld or Dyer’s weed (Reseda luteola L.) is one of the most oldest dye plants used for yellow colour. It was classified as “grand teint” (color fast). The whole plant is a good source of natural dye, except the root. It was used as a natural dyestuff since the Roman Antiquity or Prehistoric times. Its use widely spread from the Middle Age and weld was grown in England, in France, in Belgium and in the southeast of Germany.

Go back to Natural Extracts & Natural Dyes