Mordants and Assistants Archives - Dyeing Crafts

Mordants and Assistants

Mordanting is a very important step in successful natural dyeing – yet it is often rushed or even omitted contributing to disappointing results.

Mordants facilitate the bonding of the dyestuff to the fibre.

It provides flexibility as the fibres can be mordanted in advance, dried and dyed later – or mordanted and dyed in one day.

If you have time and patience – leaving the mordanted fibre to “cure” for a few days before rinsing results in deeper shades on wool and silk.

I do not use or recommend mordants such as chrome, copper or tin as they produce toxic waste which requires special disposal and are a health hazzard.

Mordants such as as alum, iron and tannins are safer to use and can produce multitudes of beautiful colours used in conjunction with the appropriate dye.

ALUMINIUM ACETATE

£10.00

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ALUMINIUM ACETATE

£10.00

White water soluble powder. A strong mordant used on cotton and other plant fibres. Improves light and washfastness, producing deeper richer colours.

ALUM

£4.00

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ALUM

£4.00

ALUMINIUM POTASSIUM SULPHATE Translucent water soluble crystals found near sulphur springs. Used to mordant animal fibres. Be careful as too much alum

CALCIUM CARBONATE

£5.00

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CALCIUM CARBONATE

£5.00

Also called Chalk A dense white powdery mineral – a common addition to the madder and weld dye bath – providing hard

CREAM OF TARTAR

£7.00

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CREAM OF TARTAR

£7.00

(Potassium Bitartrate) Crystalline opaque white powder. Alkali modifier. Used for wool and silk. An optional addition to the alum mordant and to

CUTCH

£5.00

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CUTCH

£5.00

(Acacia Catechu) Cutch is both a dyestuff and a tanning agent. It has been used in India since ancient times. This cutch

GALLNUT POWDER

£5.00

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GALLNUT POWDER

£5.00

(Oak gall) A pale yellow powder in granular form. Gallnut is used to mordant plant fibres (cellulose) before the alum mordant is

IRON

£2.50

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IRON

£2.50

(Ferrous Sulphate) Iron is an ancient mordant found in ore bearing rocks. A blue – green crystal – originally it was known

OAK BARK

£4.50

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OAK BARK

£4.50

The bark from the oak tree produces tannin which was traditionally used for tanning leather. Tannin is a common mordant used in

POMEGRANATE POWDER

£4.50

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POMEGRANATE POWDER

£4.50

The powdered skin or rind of the pomegranate can be used as a tannin mordant and a dye. With a mordant a

SODA ASH

£2.50

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SODA ASH

£2.50

(Sodium Carbonate) White granular powder found naturally in some lakes. Use to scour cotton and dye with woad and indigo. Soda ash

SPECTRALITE

£4.00

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SPECTRALITE

£4.00

(Thiourea Dioxide) White odorless crystalline powder. Spectralite is an reducing agent which removes the oxygen from indigo when combined with soda ash.

TANNIC ACID

£5.00

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TANNIC ACID

£5.00

Tannin Tannic acid is used to mordant cellulose fbres and fabrics before the alum mordant. Alum does not combine as readily with