Browsing by Author "Doepel, Mari Johanna"

Dying with natural colors has become more popular with the arising trend of nature awareness. One very potential dye is indigo. The only natural source of indigo in Finland is woad (Isatistinctoria). Traditional dying methods with indigo involve the use of sodium hydrosulfite, a compound that is seen as environmentally undesirable. Alternative methods using sugars have been researched in recent years. These research projects have mainly concentrated in industrial scale dying. Very little research has been conducted in small-scale dying. This research aims to investigate how different dying methods using sugars in reduction can be conducted in a small-scale environment and to evaluate the results of these experiments. Cotton fabric is dyed using different methods developed in the research following the guidelines of previous research results and the experiences small-scale dyers have gained using sugar reduction. The dyed fabrics are analyzed using textile standards in colorfastness in wash and rubbing. The colors gained in dying are also analyzed. The research showed that the sugar reduction is successful in dying, but the results are lighter than when using the traditional sodium hydrosulfite method. Multiple dips during the dying phase can be applied to achieve a darker shade.