|
Brazilwood was first mentioned as a dye in 1321, sourced from East Indies and India. The word brazil comes from the Spanish brasa, meaning glowing embers, and the country of Brazil was named after the wood found there, not the other way round.
The wood of several species of Caesalpinia trees give lovely rich reds. Most of brazilwood sold as a dye comes from Asian trees, grown in managed plantations, and is unlikely to be endangered.
The species from Brazil, C. echinata, is also known as Pernambuco, and it is sometimes referred to as the music tree because its wood is used for violin bows.
Dyeing with Brazilwood
 Brazilwood has several advantages that make it a good choice as a first natural dye to try out. It produces bright colours, it is very easy to use, it is quite inexpensive to buy and it goes a long way.
What you need to start:
-50 grams of brazilwood chips
-100 grams of mordanted wool (for strong colours)
-a further 50 or 100 grams of mordanted wood (for paler colours)
- Put 50 grams of brazilwood chips in a saucepan, cover with boiling water and leave overnight.
- The following day, boil the chips in the water for about an hour and let it cool for an hour or two.
- While the liquid is cooling, put your wool to soak in a container with water.
- You must remove the wood chips before adding the fibre as the chips have small barbs that attach themselves to the fibre and would have to be carefully picked off one by one. To remove the chips pour the contents of the saucepan through a sieve, saving the liquid. (You can also save the chips by spreading them out to dry, as they can be reused a few times.)
- Add 100 grams of wool mordanted with alum to the dye bath and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Take the wool out and add another 50 grams of wool for paler colours. You might still get some colour on a further 50 grams of wool.
Back to Top
Brazilwood and logwood
I find that the colours of fibre dyed with different wood dyes go very well together; silk dyed with brazilwood looks particularly striking next to silk dyed with logwood.
The red is from brazilwood in this design, whilst the purple is logwood.
Back to other reds including
1. Madder
2. Cochineal
3. Safflower
4. Ladies' Bedstraw, Dyers' Woodruff, & St John's Wort
Top of Page
|
