Adventures in Natural Dye Methods - Rose Madder Scarf

Silk Charmeuse Scarf

Soy Wax Resist Batik,

Hand-Dyed in Natural Rose Madder

Oklahoma Food Coop is full of fun people, and this month among my co-op orders was a request for natural-dyed bamboo socks.  I've dyed bamboo, and it is my favorite type of sock because these socks wick better than acrylic but have the same level of softness.  Like cotton, only better.  So, I was up for the challenge to create hand-dyed socks using Madder Roots.  Trouble is, every fiber takes dye differently, and with natural dyes the results vary from wildly unpredictable to extremely unpredictable.  The socks made from the same batch of madder roots were a softer pinky salmon in final colour.  I had hoped to list this scarf earlier during co-op's order cycle, but with taxes and all I just tossed it into the Madder Root for an experiment.

Silk scarves are tough for a couple of reasons.  Long skinny things don't wash by machine very easily.  Um, silk hardly is machine washable at all because silk is delicate.  It must not get too hot in the natural dye batch, which has to simmer but not boil over 2 hours in a process that takes about 24 hours from start to finish.  Add batik wax, and that's not only slow and likely to give a resist failure... but also clog the plumbing with wax.

Those are just some of the reasons that I was so pleased to produce this first natural dyed scarf from madder root and soy wax.  It has a delightfully uneven shadowy color tone, and the wax held up fine.  (No comment on the plumbing.  I'm the plumber these days my own self.)

This gorgeous silk scarf will be for sale in time for Mother's Day on Island Retreat... click any item in the Island Retreat Etsy gallery to see everything there.  It will be posted in a few days, or call me for direct purchase 918 797 5016, about $18. 

Madder Root is a natural plant root.  It doesn't seem to be indigenous as a Cherokee dye plant... Cherokees used a different root which is rare and sacred with a beautiful flower.  I don't dye with the Cherokee red plant because it is reputed to be a cancer remedy and I think it should be preserved in the wild for this more important purpose.  Dyeing clothing and accessories takes plenty of roots, unlike dyeing basket reed which takes far less wild flower medicine plant roots.  I like Madder because they say you can twist the shade depending upon what you add to the roots.  And I've heard it does not require a mordant.  I use Alum to presoak and Cream of Tartar to balance the PH so the molecules form a chemical bond.  You may have Madder Root in your paintbox, for it is the precursor to Alizarin Crimson... my favorite red in oils.

Today, Madder isn't used because analine dyes have taken the place of these older colors.  I love it because I know it is a part of the color rainbow of centuries past.  Its use dates back to the Pakistan area B.C. and is common widely around the world as recently as the 1900s.  How nice to know that women in Chinese silk wore this color for more than a thousand years!