Description

Logwood Natural Dye

Haaematoxylum campechianum L, Leguminasae, Caesalpinioindea

Dye Package Weight: 50 grams
Colours: Purples, Blues, Black

The heartwood of the Logwood tree is used for the dye. To extract the colour from the wood, soak the chips in some alcohol overnight, until you can see the colour in the alcohol solution.
Logwood chips can be difficult to remove from the yarn or textile. I suggest using a small mesh bag to hold the dye. The mesh bag can be reused for other dyebaths.
To Dye 100 grams of yarn, I generally use 10 grams of dye. The dyebath can be used several times. Each dyebath can produce different shades of purples, blues, black. Logwood dyes are not totally lightfast and can fade over time.

When dyeing with most natural plant dyes, a mordant must be used to pre-treat all fibres. The mordant allows the fibre to absorb the dye more readily. For animal fibres such as wool, alpaca, silk use a mordant such as alum. Alum is a natural mineral salt and has been used for thousands of years to dye fibres. I use a 10% ratio of alum to fibre. I find that using more than this can result in a harsh texture to the yarn. I also add 5% Cream of Tartar to the mordant bath, as this also helps to soften the texture of the yarn. I re-use the mordant bath several times, adding more water and another 5% of Alum each time I add more fibre. This results in less waste of both water and mordant.
For plant fibres, pre-mordant with a tannin or Aluminum Acetate

Add pre-mordanted yarn or fibre to the warm water dye bath and let this simmer on low for about an hour. Turn off the dyebath and let the yarn soak for several hours or overnight. Natural dyeing is a slow process, not to be rushed.

For more information about Logwood and other plant dyes, please visit my website at All Fiber Arts.
https://allfiberarts.com