Batik with Oak bark and Nankin |
direct dyes can color fibres without other fixing agents, often after simple extraction from plant material. these include very fast colors, such as walnut and bark browns, and also dyes with very poor fastness, such as Saffron (crocus sativus) Safflor (Carthamus tinct.) and Pomegranite rinds. . |
|
adjective dyes color fibres only in combination with a mordant. the most important mordants are metal salts (aluminium, iron, copper) and tannins. the ancient dyeing traditions of Eqypt, India, China and Central America all incoorporated the use of these minerals. the practices of mordant-dyeing worldwide are remarkably similar and such discoveries as the fixative properties of metal salts were made by many early peoples. |
 dyer's Reseda, Weld |
indigo dyes are a unique form of natural dye, which utilize particular procese. complicated dye extraction using fermentation and even more complicated dyeing practices were developed in pre-historic cultures of Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, wherever indigo-bearing plants have been found in nature. indigo blues can be quite permenent when properly applied.
