A post about all the different salts available for natural dyeing and botanical printing.
In botanical printing and natural dyeing, we use different types of calciums, natriums and sodiums for ph adjustments, as an assist for even uptake of dyes, or scouring fabrics.
These salts are not the same as the mordant salts such as alum and ferrous sulfate.
This is a list of all the available salts, the common names and aliases, and their use.
Salt NaCl
Also known as Sodium Chloride, table salt.
How to use in dyeing; use when using Procyon and RIT dyes (yes I know that’s not natural).
When you are dying with direct- and reactive dyes, you need to add salt to your dye bath. This is to prevent dye from being wasted in the large volume of water; using a large amount of salt helps keep the negative charges of the dyes and the fiber from causing them to repel each other. Using salt in your high-volume dye baths helps to increase the color yield you get from a given amount of dye.
Glauber’s salt Na2SO4·10H2O
Also known as Sodium Sulfate
Looks like; white or colorless monoclinic crystals
Tastes salty, and bitter. Glauber’s salt is used in medicine as a mild laxative.
How to use in dyeing; In dyeing, it evens out the color intake of fabrics. It has been found that the strength of shade is higher when Glauber salt is used, irrespective of the type of shade.
Epsom Salt MgSO
Also known as Magnesium sulfate
Epsom salt is used in the leather tanning industry. Magnesium sulfate can assist with one-bath dyeing where you mordant and dye in one bath. In this process the magnesium salt increases the uptake of the dye.
Epsom salt makes a great bath salt to assist the healing of aching muscles. It is used as a laxative and it can make a nice hair mask.
Baking Soda NaHCO3
Also known as; sodium bicarbonate, bicarbonate of soda, or cooking soda.
Used mostly in cooking, and sometimes as a mild ph adjuster. Some people turn baking soda into sodium carbonate by putting baking soda in the oven. Heating baking soda in a 93°C oven for about an hour oven causes a chemical reaction that changes the baking soda compound (Na), transforming it into washing soda (Na2),
Sodium bicarbonate, or baking soda, does not produce as high a pH as does sodium carbonate, or soda ash. Bicarbonate generally produces a ph of around 8, while carbonate can raise it to 11. If you want to use baking soda to turn ph to more alkali, it is better to turn it into soda ash (see before).
At our home, I use baking soda to make a toothpaste mixed with some coconut oil and peppermint oil.
Soda Ash Na2CO3
Also known as; sodium carbonate, washing soda
There is no difference between washing soda and soda ash. They are just synonyms. Both names refer to sodium carbonate that has the chemical formula Na2CO3. Soda ash looks like; either a fine powder or more crystalized little lumps.
Soda ash is a mild alkali and makes a great ph adjuster for your indigo vat, as an alternative to the more aggressive lye.
Soda ash is also used as a fixative after using Procion dyes.
I scour my fabrics with soda ash, by washing the fabric at 60 degrees celsius with half a cup of soda ash.
Make aquarelle dye from left over dye baths, just like they did in the 18th century. Waste not, want not.
Use soda ash as a modifier with ph-sensitive natural dyes such as cochineal to turn a bath from fuchsia pink to a mauve purple.
Don't leave fabrics in soda ash mixtures for great lengths of time (especially wool and silk) as the alkali level will damage the fibers.
Use soda ash as an all-purpose cleaner;
1 tsp borax
1/2 tsp washing soda
1 tsp liquid castile soap or grated Marseille soap.
Essential oils of choice – I use 4 drops lemon, 4 drops lavender, and 10 drops orange
A spray bottle for storage
Mix the ingredients with water and shake well before use.
Clean your stainless steel dye pots; Sprinkle on some washing soda, spray with a fine mist sprayer until paste forms and let sit for 20+ minutes and scrub off, a nice way to clean those pesky dye leftovers.
In Israel, I get my soda ash at the pool supply store in a bucket for cheap. Americans can use washing soda from the supermarket in a box from the brand Arm&Hammer.
If you can’t get soda ash, there is a way of making it yourself from baking soda.
Washing powder
In the old days, washing powder was washing soda, which is soda ash. Nowadays washing powder is still an alkaline powder with soda ash as a base, but a lot of other agents such as artificial scents have been added.
Chalk, Lime, Lye, Caustic soda
Chalk, CaCO3t
Calcium carbonate, limestone. Chalk is the main ingredient in sedimentary limestone, marble, chalk, oyster shells and corals. Calcium carbonate is a starting material for the production of calcium oxide. Chalk is used in natural dyeing for Ph adjustment and the minerals of the chalk bring out certain colors better.
Agricultural lime, agricultural limestone, garden lime or liming, is the same name for pulverized limestone or chalk, when used in gardening.
Quicklime, CaO
Calcium oxide, common lime, is produced by heating crushed limestone to around 1,100 degrees Celsius in a kiln. The heating of limestone releases a lot of carbon dioxide, which makes it an extremely environment unfriendly product.
Lime is used in some indigo vat recipes, as an alkaline, but lime is not very soluble in water so it creates a lot of sludge.
Hydrated Lime, Ca(OH)2
Calcium hydroxide, aka hydrated lime, caustic lime, builders' lime, slaked lime, cal, calx and pickling lime.
It is made from quicklime mixed (slaked) with water. It is used in some indigo vat recipes, and in in japanese resist pastes.
Caustic Soda, NaOH
Sodium hydroxide, aka lye. Caustic soda is a highly alkaline inorganic compound. It is used for making soaps and in some indigo vat recipes, and to unclog clogged drains.
Caustic soda is a highly reactive material and can cause severe burns with redness, swelling, pain and blurred vision once it comes into contact with moisture or water. Store this far, far away from children and pets.