BPO: Botanical Printing on Cotton

Service Description

There is a lot of information cumulated in this module. I highly recommend reading through it once because it was hard to put the elements in an order that made the most sense. I also recommend mordanting say, 2 meters of cotton fabric at once with a mordant of your choosing and then cutting it in 20 cm wide strips for experiments with different leaves and different heating times. What Is Cotton? Cotton is a natural fiber derived from cotton plants whose use dates back to the fifth millennium BCE. It is a seed haired fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants. The fiber is made of 88%–97% cellulose, the rest is waxes, fats, pectins, and water. Cotton grows in nearly all tropical and subtropical regions around the world, different regions can grow different indigenous variations of cotton. Not all cotton is the same There are many different types of cotton, each with its own characteristics. ​Pima cotton. Considered the finest type of cotton in the world, pima cotton’s fibers are extra soft and extra long. The cotton is native to South America and the American Southwest. Pima cotton fabric is very highly-sought after, as it is resistant to fading, tearing, and wrinkling. ​Egyptian cotton. Egyption cotton is very similar to pima cotton. The two are even in the same scientific class: gossypium barbadense. It has the same resistant qualities, but it is grown in the Nile River Valley in Egypt. ​Upland cotton. Upland cotton has very short fibers and makes up about 90% of the world’s total cotton production. The crop is native to and grown in Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean, and southern Florida. Peruvian cotton, native cotton (in various types of Gossypium genus) grows along the Peruvian coast and southern Ecuador. It comes in a variety of colors such as white, cream, beige, brown and reddish brown, green, yellow and lilac. This is caused by enzymes in the fibers. Kala cotton. Kala Cotton is one of the few genetically pure cotton species remaining in India, and one of the only species of pure, old world cottons Important to know: Cotton has low affinity to mordants or most natural dyes. Cotton has great affinity with tannins and proteins. Cotton also has good durability in highly acid or alkaline environments. To get good botanical prints on cotton we need to prep the fabric well by scouring if needed, wetting out with plenty of time in the water and mordanting like a pro!