Dyeing using Pulverized Mangosteen husk and Sepang wood on Cotton and Silk

Transcription

1 Dyeing using Pulverized Mangosteen husk and Sepang wood on Cotton and Silk Feroza Ahmad Faiz Faculty of Applied and Creative Arts, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak. June Ngo Siok Kheng Deputy Dean (Postgraduate and research), Faculty of Applied and Creative Arts, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak. Abstract The traditional way of natural dyeing is a complex process that lacks in convenience in terms of preparation and storage as fresh plant materials need to be processed immediately. Dried plant materials are expected to have a better shelf life and it would be more convenient if the plants are pulverized into powder form. This paper highlights an on-going research to evaluate the dyeing and colour shades of pulverized Mangosteen husk and Sepang wood on cotton and silk. Two sachets containing the powder of each plant sample were boiled separately and only one sachet was left to stay in the dyebath. The dyeing experiments were carried out using alum mordant. It was observed that the shades of the fabrics dyed with the sachet that remained in the dyebath were more vibrant. The Mangosteen produced light brownish-yellow shades, while the Sepang wood produced deep red shades. Finally, the Shibori technique was used to create textile design to highlight the interesting textured effects of natural colours instead of the direct dyeing that only produced a flat coloured fabric. Keywords: Natural dyes, Colour shades, Shibori 1.0 Introduction A dye is a coloured substance that has the ability to colour materials such as textiles, paper, ink, foodstuff, cosmetics, medicine and many others. Hence, a natural dye means an extracted coloured component from any organic materials such as plants, animals and minerals (Siva, 2007). The dyeing process is described as a permanent colouring action resulting from leaving or boiling the fabric in the dyebath. The discovery of mauveine, the first synthetic organic chemical dye, by Perkin in 1856 has resulted in a considerable decline in the use of natural dyes. Synthetic dyes are still mainly used in the textile industry as the use of natural dyes incur high production costs that result from time consuming and laborious extraction and dyeing methods (Goodarzian & 1

2 Ekrami 2010). In addition, conventional natural textile dyeing needs proper technical knowledge and sustainable collections of plants. However, with the global concern over the use of eco-friendly and biodegradable material, the interest for natural dyes has increased recently where research has proved that synthetic dyes release harmful chemicals that affect human health (Siva, 2007). Natural dyes are believed to be non-toxic, non-carcinogenic and biodegradable in nature. Therefore, the husk of Mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana L.) and Sepang wood (Caesalpinia sappan L.) are selected as the dye plant for this study. Mangosteen husk contains tannin and a powerful antioxidants called xanthones. It is also used for leather tanning in China as it yields dye (Morton, 1987). Sepang wood is often used to reduce pain or swelling caused by external injuries, and to colour fabrics and handicrafts for it yields red pigments (Mochtar, 2011). Both plant samples were dried to obtain better shelf life. The samples were then drypulverized which means that the samples were crushed into powder form before being used for dyeing. The powders of the dried materials were used so that they are physically attached to the fabrics. This study is to experiment, evaluate, and observe the dyeing process and techniques to create better dyeing recipes and to bring out the potential of the natural dyes. 2.0 Literature review 2.1 History Institut Kraf Negara (IKN) (2009) in their first academic publication entitled Seni Kraf Batik: Pewarnaan Asli stated that natural dyeing in Malaysia has significant ties with the ancient Malay community and culture. Plant dyes have been used by the Malay people for thousands of years in their textile and craft industries such as Batik and weaving. The traditional local colour ranges of red, green, orange and brown are obtained from leaves, barks, fruit seeds, roots, stems, vegetables and flowers (e.g., mengkudu roots, angsana, coconut husk fibre, turmeric, jering and kundang seeds). IKN also plays an important role in elevating the art of natural dyeing. After its participation in the first Forum Antarabangsa Tenunan Ikat in Kuching, Sarawak in 1999, Malaysian Handicraft Development Corporation (MHDC) has agreed to revitalize the art of natural dyeing. In addition to this, the international delegation at the forum unanimously agreed with the proposal to establish the World Eco-Fibre and Textile (WEFT) network. Since then, MHDC via IKN has held a number of activities including workshops for Batik and weaving, and training sessions by pua weavers from MHDC Sarawak branch for IKN trainers. 2

3 2.2 Terminology and definitions Siva (2007) in his article entitled Status of Natural Dyes and Dye-yielding Plants in India categorized the natural dyes into substantive and adjective dyes. Substantive dye will dye the fabric without the help of a mordant or fixer, but using it produces stronger results. On the other hand, an adjective dye uses a mordant where it is not a necessity. However, the outcome of an adjective dye without a mordant would be very weak. Natural dyes can be applied on several fibres but there are no guarantees in obtaining good colourfastness and shades. However, dyers prefer to use natural fibres as they provide successful results. Natural fibres originate from animals and plants. Animal fibres are protein based which include wool, silk, mohair, and alpaca would produce good results with natural dyes due to their strong affinity. On the other hand, plant or cellulosic fibres which include cotton, flax or linen, ramie, jute, hemp and others would give weaker results compared to the animal fibres. Not every natural dye is colourfast with fibres. A mordant or fixatives is a chemical substance which helps the dye become permanent on the fibre. It is believed that the word mordant originated from the Latin word mordere which means to bite. In Malay language, it is called pemati warna (IKN, 2009). Casselmen (1993) states that in modern days, common mordants are chemical mordants such as alum, copper sulphate, iron, and salts of chromium. However, these metallic mordants are extremely toxic except for alum which is also easily found. There are two types of alum which are aluminium ammonium sulphate, a nonpoisonous powder normally used in treatments, and aluminium potassium sulphate or potash alum, a poisonous powder normally used by dyers. In addition to this, metallic pots such as aluminium, iron, copper, tin and brass also affect the colour of the dyebath where the pots also result in mordanting. In textile terms, fastness means the ability of a natural dyed fabric to resist fading after being exposed to light and air or washing (Casselman, 1993). Hence, the colourfastness of the natural dyes is very important where the modern dyers are not willing to take the risk of having unsuccessful results. Adrosko (1971) explains that wool fabric absorbs dye very well and has the least fastness problems. On the other hand, cottons do not easily absorb dye where complicated procedures are needed to achieve fast colours. She also adds that a natural dye will not have complete or perfect fastness. This means that, it might fast to light and perspiration but not to washing. Therefore, it is very important that the daily used fabrics such as clothes and curtains are at least fast to light and washing. 2.3 Past research IKN (2009) also indicates that the preparation of natural dyeing material is a complicated process and requires high level of patience. Dyers using this process have to adhere to certain steps in order to get an attractive colour extract such as material selection and cleaning, dye extraction and mordant preparation. Fresh, wet, and matured raw materials will produce bright colours compared to the dried materials. For example, wet tobacco bark releases a reddish brown extract, but dried ones will merely produce brown extract. Other plant parts such as leaves, outer skins and seeds would produce the same results. As for the dye extract preparation, the fresh raw materials were boiled in a moderate temperature using the ratio of water and material, accordingly to the rate of concentration 3

4 required. For example, 1 kilogram of wet mango leaves required 20 litre of boiling water to obtain 1/3 of the extracted solution. The extract produced is suitable for dyeing. As for Batik painting, the mango leaves solution was boiled until it achieved to 10%-20% of the water ratio. Later, the food preservatives namely Benzoic acid was used to preserve dye extracts to prevent it from getting moldy. Pre-mordanted fabrics were used in the dyeing process and the mordants were lime, tawas (aluminium potassium sulphate), copper sulphate, iron and potassium dichromate. However, based on the dyeing recipe, the exact result comparison between their study and this study could not be made because the weight of fabric or the length of fabric was not listed. 2.4 Shibori Wada et al. (1983) in her book entitled Shibori: The inventive art of Japanese shaped resist dyeing stated that the pieces found in Shoso-in, a wooden storehouse to keep Emperor Shomu s personal belongings as the gift to the great Buddhist temple (Todai-ji), were the earliest evidence of resist dyed cloth in Japan, which dates back to 749 A.D. Shibori is based on the concept of a pre-dyeing phase that requires the fabric to be shaped and secured, as an alternative in embellishing textiles. The term originated from the Japanese word shiboru which meant to explain the fabric manipulating action such as to wring, squeeze, and press. The three-dimensional outcome of Shibori fabric depends on the effectiveness of the securing process namely binding and knotting, as shown in Figure 1. Generally, the West named it as tie-dye, the bond resist that practices binding methods before dyeing as they do not have a specific term that completely covers all the techniques within Shibori family. Besides, Plangi and Tritik, the Malay-Indonesian tie-dye fabric and also Banda fabric from India only cover two of the major Shibori techniques. Figure 1 Hon Hitta Kanoko; dots within squares Shibori (Wada et al., 1983). 4

5 3.0 Methodology (Natural Dyeing Experiments) 3.1 Materials Scoured and alum pre-mordanted cotton and silk fabrics were used throughout this study. The natural dyes used were Mangosteen husk (Garcinia mangostana L.) and Sepang wood (Caesalpinia sappan L.). The plant samples were collected from a fruit stall in Kota Samarahan and at a spice shop in Kuching Sarawak. These two different materials were selected to compare the physical condition between Mangosteen husk which would easily become moldy and Sepang wood which is already a dried component. The samples were then washed, dried within a set temperature, pulverized and stored for later use. 3.2 Mordanting and dyeing The fabrics were pre-soaked for the pre-mordanting process. The pot was filled with enough water to cover the fabric and dissolved alum was added to the dye pot. The dye pot was then gently heated to room temperature before adding the wet fabric into it. Premordanting was carried out at 100 C for 60 minutes. After that, the pot was removed and allowed to cool. The fabrics were rinsed, air dried and stored for later use. Direct dyeing experiments were carried out to observe the colour differences by just using a mordant (alum) and the pre-mordanting technique. Two sachets containing the powder of each plant sample were boiled separately for 30 minutes and only one sachet stayed in the dyebath. The dyeing process was then carried out at 100 C for 60 minutes. Table 1 The pre-mordanting and dyeing condition for 9.3g fabric. Pre-mordanting condition Fabric = 9.3g Water = 700 ml Alum = 1.2g Boiling time = 60 minutes Temperature = 100 C Dyeing condition Fabric = 9.3 g Water = 700 ml Boiling of = 30 minutes dye powder Dyeing time = 60 minutes Temperature = 100 C Dye powder = 18.6g (strong bath 2:1) 9.3 g (medium bath 1:1) 4.65g (weak bath ½:1) 5

6 Table 2 below outlines the differences in experiment methods between the this study and Seni Kraf Batik: Pewarnaan Asli by IKN (2009): Table 2 The differences between the experiments in this study and the experiments in Seni Kraf Batik: Pewarnaan Asli by IKN (2009). IKN This study Plant material Wet and fresh Dried and pulverized Preservation The extracted solution (used Benzoic acid as preservative) The plant material (do not need any preservatives) Amount or ratio of water According to the weight of plant material According to the weight of fabric Weight of fabric Not listed Listed Boiling of plant material 60 minutes 30 minutes Dyeing time 10 minutes 60minutes Dyebath ph Listed Not listed Mordant Using Alum and other chemical mordants which are poisonous and toxic Using alum because it is less toxic Direct dyeing produces a flat piece of fabric but Shibori allows interesting effects and patterns to be developed during the dyeing process. In the case of Shibori technique in this study, the weight of the dried and pre-mordanted fabrics was measured before the shaping process to calculate the amount of powder dye used. There are techniques that had to be improvised because there were no special tools involved such as tying stand which were used by the traditional Shibori crafter. For example, medium sized beads were used to do the Kanoko Shibori where the beads were covered with the fabric that is going to be tied and knotted. This was due to the need of consistency of each motif in the Shibori pattern. Instead of threads, rubber bands were also used in the securing process. 4.0 Results and discussion Table 3 shows the colour shades for cotton and silk dyed with Sepang wood and Mangosteen husk using alum as mordant. In the first part of this study, the experiment tries to observe whether colour could still be extracted from the plant sample after being boiled for 30 minutes. Both plant samples have different physical characteristics. Sepang wood would immediately yield colour after having direct contact with water while Mangosteen husk needs to be boiled to extract the colour. 6

7 Table 3 The colour shades for cotton and silk dyed with Sepang wood and mangosteen husk. Notes: The actual colour of the dyed samples for Table 3, 4 and 5 may differ slightly due to print quality. It has been observed that the fabrics dyed with the sachet remaining in the dyebath came out more vibrant and had darker shades as compared to the samples where the sachet was removed. This means that both colours were still extracted from both plant samples after being boiled for 30 minutes. Also, the dye uptake quality for silk is better than cotton. In the case of the Sepang wood, using silk fabric produced the deep red shades and using cotton fabric produced pastel or dusty deep red shades. Mangosteen husk produced the medium shades of brownish yellow on silk and light khaki shades on cotton. Table 4 The colour shades for cotton and silk dyed with Sepang wood and mangosteen huskusing strong, medium and weak bath. 7

8 Table 4 shows the colour shades for cotton and silk using strong, medium and weak bath. In the case of Sepang wood, the medium and weak bath have moderately change the shades on silk and cotton, with less brightness in deep red on silk and lighter shades of dusty pink on cotton. The strong bath (2:1) had obviously produced the most vibrant deep red colour on silk but not on cotton. As for Mangosteen husk, using the strong bath of 3:1 do not provide large difference on cotton and silk compared to the 2:1 bath. However, the dyed samples show that there is an obvious hue changes between strong bath (3:1 and 2:1) and weak bath (1/2: 1) on silk and cotton. 4.1 Effects of fabric quantity and Shibori on silk. Shibori requires certain length of fabrics which determine the amount of water needed for the dyeing process. Table 5 shows that the strong bath for 2m (32g) of fabric produced slightly lighter shades as compared to the strong bath for 9.6g of fabric. Additionally, the shaped fabric is definitely not in its original form which means that sufficient water is needed to cover the whole surface of the fabric. Table 5 The colour shades comparison between Shibori fabric and direct dyed sample using Sepang wood and mangosteen husk. 8

9 5.0 Conclusion Mangosteen husk and Sepang wood powdered dyes serve as useful alternative natural dyes for the dyeing of cotton and silk. However, silk fabrics have stronger affinity towards both plant samples as compared to cotton fabrics. Both colours were still extracted from both plant samples after being boiled for 30 minutes at 100 C because the fabrics dyed with the sachet remaining in the dyebath produce more vibrant and darker shades. In the case of direct dyeing method, different brightness of a single key colour is obtained by just using different dyebath concentrations. Additionally, Shibori dyeing proves that the total weight of fabric in conjunction with the amount of water, affected the brightness of the colour shades obtained although strong bath were used. Bibliography Adrosko, R. J. (1971). Natural dyes and home dyeing. New York: Dover Publications, Inc. Cannon, J. M. (1994). Dye plants and dyeing. London : The Herbert Press Ltd. Casselman, K. L. (1993). Craft of the dyer : Colour from plants and lichens. New York: Dover Publications, Inc. Chairat, M. et al. (2007). Dyeing of cotton and silk yarn with The extracted dye from the fruit hulls of mangosteen, Garcinia mangostana Linn. Fibres and Polymers Cristea, D. & Vilarem, G. (2006). Improving light fastness of natural dyes on cotton yarn. Dyes and Pigments, Inayat, A. et al. (2010). Application of eco-friendly natural dyes on leather using different mordants. Pakistan Academy of Science, 47, Padfield, T. & Landi, S. (1966). The light fastness of the natural dyes. The Times, Salehan, F. et al. (2009). Seni kraf batik: Pewarnaan asli. Selangor, Malaysia: National Craft Institute. Siva, R. (2007). Status of natural dyes and dye-yielding plants in India. Current 92, Science, Wada, Y. et al. (1983). Shibori: The inventive art of japanese shaped resist dyeing. Tokyo: Kodansha International. 9

10 10