It’s an obvious fact when it comes to food coloring additives, natural is always the best option. The United Kingdom has already banned synthetic food coloring. There’s a plethora of medical research that backs up the claims on the dangerous long term effects of consuming artificial food dyes. What’s ridiculous is America and the United Kingdom sell the exact same processed food, but Britain has replaced artificial dyes with natural ingredients. Despite the ban in the United Kingdom, the United States continues to use the banned products even with further research findings. There is already solid medical research findings suggesting the association between the use of artificial food colors with behavioral problems and hyperactivity among the children.
Natural Dyes
- Carrots
- Beets
- Red Cabbage
- Strawberries
- Blackcurrant
- Turmeric
- Saffron
- Spirulina
- Hibiscus
- Chlorophyll
- Spinach
- Blueberries
- Blackberries
- Onion Skins
Not only are natural dyes a great alternative in food, but natural dyes are used more commonly in home decor. Natural dyes have been used for many years to dye wool carpets and rugs. You can definitely count on natural dyes being the absolute best, since they give the yarn fibers a natural and magnificent luster, that is incomparable to other dyes. It is well known that dyes constructed from natural materials produce the most luminous, and warm shades. Additionally, natural dyes are supposedly more durable and resistant to fading due to ultraviolet light, than any other chemical or aniline dyes. One drawback is rugs that are dyed with natural materials tend to be much more expensive than synthetic, chemically dyed rugs.
The most commonly used vegetable dyes are indigo, madder, and larkspur. Indigo was originally obtained by extracting and fermenting indican from the leaves of the indigo plant. Madder root is produced by boiling the dried, chunks of the madder plant in a dye pot. Larkspur is made by boiling the crushed flowers, leaves, and stems of the larkspur plant.
These three dyes produce dark navy blue, dark rusty-red, and a muted gold. The first dyeing process produces an intensely deep, strong color. Then the subsequent dyeings in the same dye pot produce lighter, and softer colors.
Natural Dyes Used in Wool Rugs
- Saffron
- Barley
- Larkspur
- Henna
- Indigo Plant
- Reseda
- Rhubarb
- Pomegranate Skins
- Walnuts & Walnut Shells
- Madder Root
- Oak Bark
- Vine Leaf
- Cochineal
There are three different methods used for dying wool.
Direct Dyeing is one of the oldest processes used to dye fibers.
Vat Dyeing was discovered in the 3rd or 4th millennium BC. It is debated whether this technique was discovered in Mesopotamia, India, and Egypt independently. It was also independently discovered in South America. This dyeing process is a fusion of a oxidation and reduction.
Mordant Dyeing
This technique was discovered sometime between 4000 – 3000 BC in Mesopotamia. With this procedure, the wool is previously treated with certain salts, so that the dyes would bond to the wool fibers, thus resulting in a much more colorfast dye.
