DYES FROM TRADITIONAL PLANTS

Delvin Driver Jr. & Tanya Driver

Instructor: Kerry Hartman

HISTORY

• Native dye plants in the United States were first used by Native Americans.

• Their culture was totally dependant on what the land produced.

• Native Americans learned about the plants in their environment through general trial and error and communication with other tribes.

• Far more plants were used for medicines, shelter, and tools than dyes.

TRADITIONAL METHOD

• The Process of extracting the pigment from the plant materials was usually done in a pot over a fire.

• Native Americans would often just chop up plants, put them in a container of water, add material and let it sit in the sun for a few days.

PURPOSE

• Provide opportunity to explore, identify, and locate area native plants.

• The learning component will be to determine the color (dye) producing possibilities of the plant.

• Experiment to produce dyestuff of the plant as well as explore natural mordants.

• Find molecular structures of natural dyes and compare to modern dyes. This is in the works.

PLANT PIGMENTS

• All plants contain pigments, often in large enough concentrations that they can be used to dye natural fibers such as wool or cotton.

• Fibers made of proteins such as wool and silk retain the dye through hydrogen bonding between polypeptide linkages and the dye.

• Artificial fibers (polyester, nylon, etc.) will not take up natural dyes.

DYE BONDING

• Bonding of dyes to fibers is complex.

• It involves direct bonding, H-bonds and hydrophobic interactions.

• Mordants help binding of dyes to fabric by forming a chemical bridge from dye to fiber, increasing its fastness properties.

DYE CHEMISTRY

• Dyeing has been practiced for centuries without anyone really understanding what was going on.

• Today there is some dyeing processes that are carried out quite successfully in which we are still not able to fully explain the science of.

RESEARCH ARTICLE

• Earlier understanding of dying techniques and their applications was empircal and was not backed by scientific reasoning.

• Now in recent times the dyeing technique is interpreted on sound scientific principles. They have tried to explain the nature of bonding in certain dyes by looking at their structures.

EFFECTS OF COLOR

• Shade of the color the plant produces will vary according to:– Time of year plant was picked – How it was grown– Soil Conditions– Minerals in water

MORDANTS

• Natural dyes are substantive, requiring a mordant to fix to fabric and prevent the color from either fading to light or washing out.

• Are added to keep dyes from fading or to brighten, deepen, or dull.

• Can be used before, during or after dye bath.• Helps fiber take up the dye by breaking chemical

bonds on its surface and these bonds will reform with the dye.

NATURAL MORDANTS

• Acidic mordant, currants or gooseberries help make colors more permanent.

• Deeper colors can be achieved by adding (female) dock root.

• Birch• Black oak soaked in standing water for two years• Iron oxides (ground hematite)• Hardwood (or cedar bark) ashes.

ELDERS

• The first part of our research was to interview elders to find out what knowledge they had of plant dyeing.

• Elderly men stated that it was the women that dealt with the plants.

• We went to an elderly lady and a young lady that work with quillwork. The elderly spoke of the juneberries/chokecherries for purple/red.

• She has a list of different plants for dye but was unable to find to find it right off hand.

LOSS OF KNOWLEDGE

• As early as the 1830’s– Turned to European traders for goods from

which dyes could be rendered

• Loss of expertise in this area has been almost irretrievable.

• Very little was ever recorded on the subject

RECIPES

• We found numerous dye recipes on the internet and through several books acquired for this project.

• We made up our own recipe and stayed with the ‘natural dyeing’ techniques.

• We considered this as close to traditional due to lack of knowledge on this subject for our reservation.

COLLECTING

• We collected plant specimens which grow naturally on our reservation.

• We didn’t get to some due to land ownership and time of season.

• Previously we made of list of which plants we knew were in our area

• We also listed which tribe utilized the dye from the plant.

MATERIALS

• This turned out to be a time consuming process.• This includes gathering them at the best time,

breaking them at the best time, breaking them into small pieces and mashing and smashing them to release the pigments.

• We didn’t get plants at the best time like we intended.

METHOD

• We selected plants exhibiting healthy growth

• We observed soil type.

• Collected plant specimens. Identified and labeled

MATERIALS NEEDED

• We had to gather a few items before we started dyeing.– Plant materials– Fabric (Cotton, Leather, Wool, Silk, Satin)– Water– Natural Mordants– Hot Plate (Used stove)– Glass/Enamel Pot– Wooden spoons– Old Blender– Jars

PLANTS COLLECTED

• Silver Buffaloberry• Wild Plum• Chokecherry• Owl Clover• Black-eyed Susan• Prairie Coneflower• Goldenrod• Curly Dock• Gooseberry (Natural Mordant)

RECIPE

• Measurements were different according to sample size.

• We kept the initial mix on a 1:1 ratio and added water ¼ Cup increments.

• We boiled on High Heat for 20 minutes with unmordanted and mordanted.

• We crushed up plant material with an old blender with water.

RECIPE CONTINUED

• Plant material and four types of fabric were put in the pot and brought to a boil.

• After this, for cool down, we put plant materials and fabric in a jar for 6 hours.

• We then strained out plant material and laid fabric on newspaper to dry.

• After fabric was dry we washed half of the fabric with Gain laundry detergent to test colorfastness.

NOTES

• Some of the dyes didn’t bond very well or come out with expected results.

• We figured mordanting would have a significance difference.

• Mordanting isn’t absolutely necessary for dyeing it allows more dye to be picked up so colors will be more vivid

SPECTROPHOTOMETER

• This is the technique or lab we would use to give structural information on organic molecules of the plant dyes.

QUICK NOTES

• Frozen flowers may give darker colors than fresh and faded flowers may give lighter colors.

• Picking leaves or flowers on wet days often speeds up leaching of pigments into dye bath.

• Beware of mixing colors among species because color turns dull.

• Tannin is found in many woods and make dye dull colored.

REFERENCES

• How Indians use Wild Plants for Food, Medicine, and Crafts

• Uses of Plants By The Indians of the Upper Missouri River Region

• Plants of the Black Hills and Bear Lodge Mountains

• Medicinal Wild Plants of the Prairie• Edible Wild Plants of the Prairie

REFERENCES

• Medicinal Plants and Herbs• Edible Wild Plants• Grassland Plants of South Dakota and the Northern

Great Plains• Weeds of the West

North Dakota and Minnesota Range Plants• Complete Natural Dyeing Guide• Magic and Medicine of Plants• Field Guide to Trees• Field Guide to Wildflowers