Natural Dye using berries.

For my prototype I used the natural dye kit. Because blue is not really a color that occurs naturally it was hard to create a prototype for what blue jeans would look like using natural dye. I was unable to access an indigo plant which is typically used for denim so I used blackberries and blueberries. I was worried how this would look once I noticed how pink my natural dye looked, however once I placed the dye fabric in the mordant it created a nice purplish hue. I believe if I used more berries the color would have been much more saturated. The process of creating the dye was longer than I thought, however it was interesting to watch the process.

Process:

1. I boiled the berries 10 min longer than the recommended 30 for maximum saturation
2. I washed my fabric samples and boiled them in the natural dye for 30 minutes after removing the berries
3. I placed 3 of the samples in the mordant I prepared
4. The remaining samples I left to dry naturally without treating them with the mordant

What I found was that the mordant heavily effected the color as well as the feeling of the fabric. The non treated once felt much harder and the color washed out easily. The treated fabric was a darker bluer hue and felt softer to touch.

Actual dye

Wool and cotton in the mordant

Non treated samples (left was washed)

Dry washed sample

Dry non-treated washed sample

Dry treated wool sample (left was not washed beforehand therefore there was natural oil on it from the sheep)

Dry treated sample (lighting in the room effected the color of the photograph)