The Kora Edit is a textile art project shaped by slowness, soil, and story. Each piece begins with nature, and ends in personal meaning.

Natural dye as a method is a process to express love to the fabric, an investment of patience.

When I first started reading about extensive techniques and documentation about natural dyes, I realised that it is reveals the true nature of the fabric. The dye don’t lie. If the fabrics are not pure, the dye will show. If they are pure the dyes will speak. If the dyer is in haste, the dye yawns, if there is patience and love, the dye celebrates!

The Process

Sourcing
Natural dyes can be done on 2 kinds of natural fabrics-

1. Plant based (also technically known as cellulosic fibers) which are cotton, hemp, etc

2. Animal based (also technically known as protein fibers) which are wool, silk, leather.

It is very important to know what fabric you intend to use. This will decide a few process to get that amazing piece you imagine to have.

Stitching

If you plan on making your piece you can consider stitching first. Its good to also decide on the dyeing technique as some of them may need stitching later (eg: Block printing because it needs a flat surface). So yea, chose your pieces and a dyeing technique to make this call.

Scouring

Many a times scouring is considered ‘just washing’ the cloth. But that is a very superficial understanding. Scouring is actually cleaning the surface so that the dye can bond well. Its more like dealing with you old situations before starting to band with new ones strongly (especially when the new ones are vibrant and morally strong). You may find fabrics in the market that say Ready for Dyeing (RFD) or Prepared for Dyeing (PFD), but you still need to scour this.

We scour plant based fabrics to remove the waxes and pectins (a plant compound that helps plant protect in the wild). To do so, we try to have an alkaline wash bath gradually heated to 80-90 degree celcius max. You use washing soda and mild detergent(Ezee) to clean off the surface thoroghly. Simmer the cloth for 1-2 hours. The proportions of cleaning agents depends on weight of fabric/fibre(W.O.F).

For protein based fabric, the goal is to remove oils, dirt, sericin (in silk) and lanolin (in wool). To scour these, we have to be really delicate as the protein fibres are delicate. Never have water above 60 degree celcius (it should not boil) especially for silk. We need to have our bath slightly acidic(Orvus Paste). Gently heat for 30 to 60 min and do not stir for wool. Try to rinse it in a similar temperature water.

So yes- this is just not washing

Mordanting

After scouring, rinsing and drying, now the cloth is ready for the next process which is not dyeing(yet). Mordanting is a method to add an agent on the layer of the cloth that allows the natural dye to bond strongly and deeply. This is a crucial step as it adds longevity to the colours and enhances the quality(like vibrance). Here are few commonly used mordants you could consider-

1. Alum = bright & clear colours
2. Iron = darker, moodier tones
3. Copper = greenish or warmer shifts

Sometimes dyers decide to have mordants that add colour! This makes mordanting a process of dyeing too.

Dyeing

There are so many ways dye a cloth, and here lies the true expression! your dying technique will also decide how you want to prepare you dye recipie and in what quantity. Following is the list to different dyeing techniques you could consider-

1. Block Printing
2. Eco Printing
3. Full Dye
4. Brush painting
5. Naturalistic printing
6. Resist Dying

Resist dying is an infinite field to experiment. different cultures and traditions do it different way and are called different things. You may feel everything is the same from the process standpoint (and thats why it is clubbed under the umbrella of resist dyeing) but these have a very strong cultural significance and interesting enough that deserves a read!. For now, I am listing down some of them here.

Types of resist dyeing

1. Bandhani (Tie & Dye)
2. Batik (Wax resist)
3. Shibori (Clamp resist)
4. Dabu (Mud resist)
5. Stitch resist
6. Screen Resist
7. Ice Dyeing

Take some time to sink in this. I would be writing more about each type of dyeing and how can you prepare your dyeing process for the same. For now, keep foraging, dreaming and doing <3.