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Black Dye
by Dino Labiste
A deep, black dye can be created using water, tannins, and iron.
Any natural material can be colored a black tone by first soaking
the item i
tannic acid solution, Then the material is immersed in a second
solution of iron salt to give it the permanent dark pigment.
15 large acorns or 2 large oak galls. The quantity of acorns or
oak galls will depend upon the amount of natural material you want
to dye.
To get started, you will need:
a)
Enough lemons to create a cup of lemon juice. If you do not want
to squeeze lemons, then purchase vinegar or processed lemon juice
from the grocer
store.
b)
Rust from nails, sheet metal, pipes, or any iron product that
has rusted. Scrape or break off the rusted sections, then use a
rock or hammer to pound th
rust into powder. Try to acquire 2 tablespoons of rust. If you
cannot find rusted items, you may substitute steel wool or any
soluble iron compound.
c)
Begin by husking the acorns and pounding the meat into a
powdered form. Use whatever methods you find appropriate. You can
process the acorn with
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an electric blender or if you want to use only primitive tools,
then resort to a stone mortar and pestle. Grinding the acorn nuts
against a stone mano and
metate will also work (or improvise with a flat, stout stone and
the cement sidewalk). Whatever method you use, the acorn meat needs
to be crushed and
turned into a powder consistency. If you are using oak galls,
they need to be processed into a powder also.
Find a container that will hold water and place the powdered
acorn nuts or oak galls into your container. Add a cup of water to
the powder and mix it
together. The level of the water should cover the natural
material that will be dyed. If you need to put more water, then add
6 more powdered acorns to
each 1/2 cup of water.
The iron salt solution will be a mixture of lemon juice (or
vinegar) and the powdered rust (or steel wool). Place a cup of
lemon juice into a waterproof
vessel. Add your 2 tablespoons of powdered rust or 1 pad of
steel wool. The same notion applies if you are dying a lot of
natural material. You will nee
to add more lemon juice (or vinegar) and powdered rust (or steel
wool).
Take the natural material that you want to dye and soak it in
the acorn (tannic acid) solution overnight. The following morning,
remove the item from the
acorn solution, let it drip for a minute, then place the item
into the iron salt solution. Soak
the material overnight also. You may remove the item from the
final solution the next day. If your
dyed material looks too light or gray in color, then you will
have to experiment with more
proportions of the acorn or oak gall ingredients. Even adding
more rust or steel wool to the iron salt
solution will help to darken the color more. Also, keeping the
natural material in the tannic acid
solution and the iron salt solution longer than one day in each
solution will create a darker color.
When you are satisfied with the final results and the color is a
deep black tone, allow the material to
dry. After it has thoroughly dried, lightly wash the item with
fresh water and a mild soap to remove
the lemon (or vinegar) and rust smell. The odor may not bother
some people. If you don't mind the
smell, then just let the dyed material dry completely in the
sun. The odor will dissipate over time.
Contact with the iron salt solution, after you have touched the
tannic acid solution, will also dyeyour hands. The color will come
out eventually after constant everyday washing of your hands.
If
you do not want black dye on your fingers, use rubber gloves
when handling the dyed material or
just be careful not to touch the material when taking it out of
the final solution. Use sticks to place
and remove the soaked material. After the item has thoroughly
dried, the black color will not transfer to your hands or any other
material it comes in con
with.
The tannins in the acorn solution combines with the iron salt in
the second solution to create a chemical reaction that not only
dyes the material, but gets
absorbed into the material as oppose to just coloring the outer
surface. You can dye bones, leather, plant fibers, shells, seeds,
or feathers.
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Dyed leather and pine nuts.
Dyed bird bone beads.
The Hawaiians created geometric patterns dyed in black on their
gourd containers by cutting through the outer skin of the gourd. A
mixture of bruised
arum leaves and stalks with a quantity of dark, ferruginous
earth and water was put into the gourd. The color soaked through
the gourd wall from within
On removal of the dye solution, the gourd was washed and the
parts that were not protected by the outer skin had turned black.
The mixtures of bruised
leaves or bark supplied tannic acid and ferruginous earth or
black mud supplied some iron salt with the result that tannate of
iron, or ink, was formed.
Indigenous California basketweavers also used a similar mixture
to dye their weavers to create black patterns on their baskets. The
Pomo dyed the split
roots of the bulrush to get a jet black or various shades of
brown by burying the roots in a mixture of rich black mud with
ashes. The Paiute dyed their
bracken fern root in a rusty tin can or in a mixture of horse
dung.
Hawaiian gourd container California coiled basket
Photo reference:1) "Arts and Crafts of Hawaii - Food" by Te
Rangi Hiroa, Bishop Museum Press2) "Native American Basketry of
Central California" by Christopher L. Moser, Riverside Museum
Press
Hawaiian gourd containerCalifornia coiled basket
E-mail your comments to "Dino Labiste" at [email protected]
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