New!
Natural dyes & dye plant seeds
for sale

Check prices in your own currency
in FX

Brazilwood (Caesalpinia spp)

Other reds include
1. Madder
2. Cochineal,
3. Safflower
3. Ladies' Bedstraw, Dyers' Woodruff & St John's Wort
 

Brazilwood was first mentioned as a dye in 1321, sourced from East Indies and India. The word brazil comes from the Spanish brasa and it means glowing embers. The country of Brazil was named after the wood found there, rather than 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, 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, is very easy to use, it is quite inexpensive to buy and it goes a long way.

I soak about 50g of wood chips in water overnight. The following day I simmer the chips in the water for about an hour. I leave the chips in the hot water for a further hour or two. Then I pour the contents of the saucepan through a sieve, saving both the liquor and the chips. (Make sure you remove the chips before adding the fibre otherwise the chips with stick to the fibre and you will have to remove them one by one.) I spread out the chips to dry, as they can be reused a few times.

I add pre-soaked and pre-mordanted fibre to the saucepan, and leave it overnight. I can probably dye 200g of silk Dupion with 50g of chips.

After I finished dyeing, I pour the liquor into a plastic soda water bottle, filling it right up to the top and then I screw the lid on. I use this liquor when I start the next brazilwood vat.

Sometimes I put rusty paper clips on the silk. The iron on the rust makes the silk near the paper clip go black.
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

Website and photos by Mike Roberts                 © 2006-08 WildColours
Page last updated 8 Nov 2007