Transcription
Hi, this is Margaret Bird, and welcome to Color Quest. I'm so happy that you're here.
The past few tutorials, we have been looking at how to shift or modify the color of our natural dyes. We've looked at the pH of water, and we've looked at using iron as a modifier or a color shifter. Another use for iron is actually a mordant. So today, we're going to talk about mordants, and specifically alum as a mordant. It is probably the most common mordant that's used in textile dyeing. And you might say, "What is a mordant?" I see that word, I don't know what it means. Well, the way I like to think of a mordant is simply a bond. And what it is, is a bonding that happens between the dye matter, so your dye itself, and the textile that you choose. Some textiles do better with certain kinds of mordants, some textiles are okay without mordants, and a lot of it depends upon what kind of dye you're using. So today, we're only going to look at one of the mordants, and that is mordant.
Alum is a naturally occurring mineral that is used to pre-treat your textiles. And you might be wondering, where do I get alum? Sounds strange, but you may know it from pickling. It is something you can find in the spice aisle, often in your grocery store, and you use it in a very similar way to preparing your dye materials. I always mordant my textiles because it can help make that bond stronger so that your dyes last longer on the textile, that they're less sensitive to shifts in color based on washing or the sunlight. You'll also notice that I sneak in one other kitchen substance, and that is cream of tartar. And cream of tartar plays a role in protein fibers. And protein fibers are things like silk and wool, that are coming from animals.
So happy that you're here. Thank you for the support that you're bringing to this channel, Color Quest.
[Music] [Music] do [Music] do [Music] so [Music] do [Music] do [Music] you [Music] [Applause] [Music] do [Music] do [Music] [Applause] [Music] do [Music] do [Music] [Music] so [Music] so how easy was that, really? It's nothing more than heating up some water and putting your material in an alum bath. So let me give you a suggestion. I typically mordant more fabric than I'm going to use in any one dye session, if I can. Then I know that I always have textile that has a mordant on it for future use.
So you've seen in my color samples that I will use various mordants, all of them being one of them. But I also use what's known as a soy milk mordant, and there will be a video at some point about how to do a soy milk mordant. It's not an official mordant, but you can utilize it in a similar fashion. The other mordant we briefly touched on is an iron water mordant. Typically, that's used to shift color, but it can also strengthen the bond between dye matter and your textile. The final mordant that you're going to want to keep an eye out for is a tannin mordant. And next time on Color Quest, we are going to start looking at some tannin-rich dye matter that you can use both as a dye for color, but also as a mordant.
So I look forward to seeing you next time here on Color Quest, and don't forget to subscribe if you like what you see, and hit the bell if you'd like to be notified every Friday when a new video is released. So happy to have you here. It means the world to me.
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