4. Biochromes¶

For this week, I will be working with black beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) and Achiote/ Annato (Bixa orellana) as natural dyes, iron liquor as mordant and, borax and vinegar as colour modifiers. I used the guide from Cecilia Raspanti Documentation

Iron liquor Mordant¶

We used 4 table spoons of vinegar in 2 liters of water and iron pieces (metal bits, nails, iron wires..). Vinegar will turn the mix into an acidic liquid that will help us corroding the metal pieces. We left Iron bits in the mixture for a couple of days. After this, I soaked the fabric pieces (cotton) in the mixture for 6 hours. Now we are ready for the natural dye process

Recipe one:¶

I used 3 petri dishes to get variations for dying with black beans.

Petri 1: Acidic variation

30 gr of black beans

10 gr of vinegar

30 gr of water

Cotton fabric piece.

Petri 2: Basic variation

30 gr of black beans

10 gr of borax

30 gr of water

Cotton fabric piece.

Petri 3: Neutral variation

30 gr of black beans

60 gr of water

Cotton fabric piece.

Process: for all three Petri dishes with beans I mix the ingredients mentioned and let the fabric soak in the mix for 24 hours. As soon as I mix the ingredients, I also took P.H. measures

The results:

contrast in bean dying: acidic/base

Recipe two:¶

For the second recipe I used Achiote, known in many places as Annato, Bixa Orellana. The process for this natural dying involved simmering the seeds on water. I boiled the seeds and the fabric pieces all together for 1.5 hours and then let the fabric pieces cold down and rest in three petri dishes. One with vinegar, one with borax and one with plain water. I used:

1 litre of water

43 gr of achiote seeds.

4 gr of borax (basic variation)

4 gr of vinegar. (acidic variation)

This photo documents de colour release from achiote seeds after boiling in water for 20 minutes

Cooling down and resting for 24 hours in petri dishes with vinegar, borax and water.

The results.

After boiling I measured the PH to understand colour variations in relation to the potential hydrogen

After 24 hours I took out the fabric pieces and rince them in warmwater. Here are the results.

This is the contrast between the acidic and basic dyes.