Natural Dyes - an Overview

Dyeing is a process of coloring materials, or cloth fibers, whereby the color becomes part of the fiber. In ancient times all the dyes used were natural. The dyestuffs came from a variety of natural sources, some commonly available, others rare or difficult to produce.

Historically,  many of the dyeing processes were closely guarded secrets, handed down over generations, and often steeped in superstition.  Many of the colors required specialized processing and skilled craftsmen. The gathering and preparation of the dye was time and labor intensive.

Ancient rulers set themselves apart  by wearing exotic and rare items, and dyed clothing was a part of this status proclamation. The important and the wealthy prefered to wear items not available to all.  In Egypt, the pharaohs wore specially made clothing, dyed with colors difficult to obtain. Dyed fabrics from tombs of early Egyptian attest to the antiquity of the dyers art.

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Women in India cutting the Indigofera Tinctorium plants that produce indican, the substance used to make indigo dye.

The  roots  of  Madder plants   (Rubia Tinctorum) are bright red and have been used for centuries to make red dye. The plants are native to the dry climates of south-central Asia.

Dyes were originally derived from natural sources such as the leaves, flowers, berries, stems or roots of plants, or from insects and shellfish. Important centers of dyeing were established around the shores of the Mediterranean five thousand years ago. Dyeing with natural dyes became a skilled craft in ancient Egypt. For yellow they used weld, for blue the woad plant, for red the root of the madder plant.

The Phoenicians specialized in using shellfish to produce a dye which ranged from red through to purple to blue. The Greeks and Romans adopted most of these earlier techniques. They also used kermes insect to produce a red dye and archil, a lichen found on seashores, for purple. The color purple was held in high esteem and was used to indicate rank and status. Until the sixteenth century the range of natural dyes used by European dyers was similar to those used by the Greeks and Romans. Madder, woad and weld were the most important with others such as archil and kemes being used to lesser extent.