This entry was originally published as an email newsletter in January 2022.
2020 forced us like so many others, to slow down and re-evaluate our relationship with our work and materials. Much as we missed shows and seeing everyone's faces, it was a pause that allowed us to take Good Water & Co. in a radically new direction.
Our dye process was born of theory and practice and a lot of help. While we curated an extensive reference library, we were also busy in our kitchen laboratory. In developing a process that worked for us, we focused on creating beautiful color without harsh ingredients.
The first lesson we learned was the importance of scouring. Even the softest, whitest linen has been treated with starch and other additives that must be removed before dyeing. We typically scour our fabric with soda ash and a PH-balanced laundry detergent twice to ensure we've cleaned the fabric as well as we can.
Next, we submerge the fabric to be dyed into a wheat bran bath for twenty-four hours. This helps to ensure any remaining starch is removed.
Once we've gotten the fabric's surface prepared, we apply a tannin. Often, we use a colorless tannin powder to avoid impacting the dye color. Again, the fabric sits in the bath for about twenty-four hours.
After tannin has been applied, we then create a mordant bath. Typically, we mordant with either our homemade soy milk or a combination of food-grade alum and soda ash. Much like with the tannin, we leave the fabric in the mordant bath for twenty-four hours (can you sense a theme yet?).
Finally, we're ready to dye! We'll typically use a dye bath two to three times with each dip lasting (yes, you guessed it) twenty-four hours. After, we'll rinse the material until the water runs clean, then hang it to dry.
This slow process allows to use choose safe, eco-friendly materials and to simply dump our remaining dye pot into the garden at the end of the process.
Keep an eye out for more of our dyed linen and let us know what kinds of colors YOU want to see!