Cochineal is a dye harvested from a type of cactus parasite known as Dactylopius coccus.  The female cochineal beetle in particular, produces a concentrated amount of carminic acid, from which carmine is derived.  It has been used by the Indigenous peoples of Mexico and South America for thousands of years.

At at nopalry (cactus farm), female cochineal beetles are encouraged to infect the host cacti. After approximately 90 days, they are harvested by hand by picking or brushing them off. The process is incredibly labour intensive, which makes cochineal a more costly dye.

The insects are dried and pulverized, making a very concentrated red dye.  It is commonly used as textile dye, in cosmetics, as a natural food colouring and as a histological preparatory stain for the examination of tissues and carbohydrates. 

Cochineal is sought after for its lightfastness, the concentration of colour (which requires less of the raw materials as compared to other natural dyes) and the rainbow of shades it can produce. The solution pH directly affects the colour; more basic solutions produce deeper crimson and purple shades, whereas the introduction of acid shifts the batch to a brighter pink and even orange.  

Indigofera tinctoria and similar plants have been cultivated since antiquity by cultures all over the world. The leaves are harvested and fermented in water.

The sludge that remains is either formed into cakes, balls or slabs (which can also be ground to powder)

Indigo is not water soluble. In order to create an indigo vat, you must add a reduction agent to remove much of the oxygen, and reduce the pH to basic. Reducers range from natural sugars, to other dyes or plants, or specialized chemical compounds. To make the solution alkaline, calcium hydroxide (also known as pickling lime, lime or hydrated lime) or soda ash are added. Lye can also be used, but is highly caustic and therefore not used on our products.

Wet cloth or yarn is introduced into the vat slowly as to avoid bubbles which could oxidize the vat. Once the indigo has been sufficiently absorbed, the cloth is carefully removed and wrung for the same reason.

The cloth that is removed from the vat is green; once the cloth has sufficiently been exposed to oxygen, the colour will turn to indigo blue. In order for darker shades to be produced, this step must be repeated many times. 

The now dyed fabric will be rinsed, washed, resists removed, dried and ironed. Depending on the final piece, it may be then cut, sewn and treated like any other fabric. In the case of a finished dyed garment, it is ready to wear!

Indigo is used world wide on many fabrics and articles of clothing, including jeans. Once the indigo water has been fully oxidized and no longer useful for dyeing, it is compostable. Many places around the world recycle their oxidized indigo for crops.

“Brazilwood” originally came from the heartwood of the Cæsalpinia echinata tree, a legume, which is native to the Brazilian coastline.  This tree was harvested, then over harvested for the dyestuff that was commonly known as brazilian.  Indeed, the country of Brazil gets its name from these now endangered trees.  

“Eastern Brazilwood”, or sappanwood, comes from the heart wood of Caesalpinia sappan, a small thorny legume bush which is found throughout east Asia. The plant itself has antibacterial, antimicrobial and anticoagulant properties and is often used in local medicine. The wood itself is quite tough, considered to be resistant to termites, finishes well and is often used as a decorative inlay, and in the making of cabinets, violin bows and walking sticks.

Sappanwood is very sensitive to pH, and as a result the colour from the heartwood can be manipulated from a bright orange to a berry red and even purple. The roots however, produce a yellow dye.

Also known as blackwood, bloodwood, campeachy or Jamaica wood, the heartwood of Logwood (Haematoxylum campechianum) has been used for centuries for dyeing. Originally from Mexico, it was exported to colonies in the Caribbean and Central America and heavily logged for European dyestuffs from the 17th to 19th centuries.  Once highly sought after, it was often targeted and stolen as many other costly goods during the golden age of piracy.

Logwood chips are still used in medicine and histology for staining, and was once a staple in pH testing, as the natural brown colour will turn yellow red under acidic conditions and purple when introduced to alkaline.

Madder, also known as rose madder, dyers madder, Turkey red, or common madder, is sourced from the roots of rubia tinctorum, a plant belonging to the bedstraw and coffee family.  It has been used for millennia to dye leather, wool, cotton and silk in Europe and the Near East. Archeological and historical evidence exists of its use from India in 3 BCE, Rome, the Viking age of York, Franco-Roman France, through to the British Redcoats. It has also been used in herbal medicine. Currently it is both cultivated and growing wild through India, Asia, Turkey, China, Africa, Japan and Australia.

When heat and pH are manipulated, the range of colour that can be produced is astounding;  Turkey red being the most famous, but madder alone can also produce mulberry, orange red, terracotta and coral. 

Weld (Reseda luteola) is a small flowering plant that produces a brilliant, clear, colourfast yellow dye. Belonging to the same order as the brassicas and mustard, it has historically been referred to as “dyer's rocket”, “dyer's weed”, “woold”, and “yellow weed”. This plant was originally native to Eurasia, but has since been introduced to North America and Australia, where it is now considered to be a common weed.

Its use as a dyestuff is widely considered to predate the use of either woad (Isatis tinctoria) or madder; evidence of weld dates as far back as the first millennia, between 1000-1 BC. It was extensively used on a variety of fibres, including wool, linen and silk. Weld was used to create wedding garments and the robes of the “Vestal Virgins” (priestesses of Vesta) in Ancient Rome. In the Middle Ages, the “Lincoln Green” of Chaucer and Robin Hood fame was created by combining weld with woad. Weld continued to be the most popular yellow dye through the centuries, with France being a major exporter. It wasn’t until the late 19th century and the development of the cheaper (and highly toxic) aniline or “coal tar” dyes, that weld fell out of commercial use.