PLANT-BASED DYE KIT • GARANCE (madder)

Plant-based dyeing is a traditional technique, the basics of which were forgotten during the 20th century, and which many dyers and colorists are seeking to rediscover. Used since antiquity, widely developed in the Middle Ages, it makes it possible to give colors to textiles by using the tinctorial properties of pigments extracted from plants. This technique, which is delicate to master, makes it possible to create splendid and surprising shades. It goes particularly well with 100% natural wools.

Fonty offers a range of do-it-yourself vegetal dye kits from natural wools produced at the Filature, with pigments and simplified but very efficient, for which a result of high aesthetic quality is very easily accessible.

This kit contains
- a skein of 250g of yarn BB NAT, made of 100% merino wool, undyed, untreated. This quantity is sufficient to make a knitted work such as a large scarf, or a child's sweater. It is also small enough to be dyed in a single bath, with non-industrial means
- a 9g jar of GARANCE (madder) extract, a plant pigment taken from the tree of the same name
- a 9g pot of mordant, selected to accompany this pigment
- a very detailed explanatory note

The plant extracts, presented in the form of a granular powder soluble in warm water, allow a wide range of shades. To make a vegetal dye, you must use an essential “mordant” to open the fibers of the wool and fix the colors (except for indigo). Mordants are most generally metal salts.

Dyers usually make their natural dyes in 2 successive baths, one of "mordanting", the other of dyeing. The method and the products offered in this box are deliberately simplified; they are the fruit of the experience of the team of dyers at La Filature, who have imagined a less complex process, accessible to everyone, from beginners to seasoned amateurs, and which produces impressive results.

With the skein of wool that you have dyed yourself in vegetable dye, you will be able to knit a work in your colors ! When you have made your first dye, you can expand your know-how and develop your technique by taking inspiration from more elaborate methods.

Fonty also offers other vegetal dye kits based on CAMPÊCHE, COCHENILLE (cochineal carmine), COCHENILLE (cochineal carmine, MÛRIER (mulberry tree), RESEDA.

To receive the up-to-date range of colors of Do-It-Yourself Plant-based Dye Kits, you can order the KIT TEINTURE VÉGÉTALE COLOR CHARThere.