An essential plant for botanical dyes
When it comes to plant dyes, madder is hard to ignore. It is one of the few plants that “makes” red, a red that is resistant to UV rays and washing.
Its color palette is rich and varied: oranges, pinks, reds and even purples.
It all depends on the plant, the water, the fiber and, of course, the “recipe”.
1. Portrait of madder
There is not one madder but many, all belonging to the Rubiaceae family, the red plants.
Let’s talk about the most famous.
1.1. Travelling madder
A wild species, traveling madder (rubia peregrina) grows spontaneously around the Mediterranean.
It thrives on limestone soils, and can be found at the foot of hedges or embankments. It has evergreen foliage. And its rhizomes contain red colorants from the anthraquinone family, offering fairly dark reds.
1.2. Dyer’s madder
The most famous cultivated species, dyer’s madder(rubia tinctorum) has been grown extensively in Europe and is still cultivated today by enthusiasts.
It grows in deep, fertile, cool soil. For optimum concentration of red colorant(alizarin), rhizomes are harvested after the third year of cultivation. Soil quality and climate will influence the concentration of colorant in the roots. In any case, it is the emblematic plant for deep red.
1.3. Indian madder
A robust plant, Indian madder(rubia cordifolia) is abundant throughout Asia, and particularly in India. It grows spontaneously in clearings, forest edges and open areas. Stems and roots are used for dyeing. Its shades of red are slightly orange.
2. How to dye with madder
There are a thousand and one recipes for madder dyeing: the ones I’m proposing here are just a few suggestions for you to explore as you experiment.
2.1. Mordanting : a necessary step in madder dyeing
First question: Should the fiber be mordanted? The answer is yes!
But the process will differ depending on whether you’re dyeing wool, linen or cotton. The only thing they have in common is the use of plants as a mordant.
2.1.1. For wool
Several plants can help you fix madder:
- plants rich in tannin, with a little lemon juice: gallnut, sumac, myrobolan or pomegranate. If the tannin is colored like pomegranate, it will add nuance to your madder, which will tend towards orange.
- plants rich in oxalic acid, such as rhubarb, rumex, beet leaves and Japanese knotweed.
- birch bark,
- symplocos. A plant naturally rich in alumina, it can easily replace alum.
All the steps involved in etching with these plants are detailed and developed in my book (link in french), whose English version, Wild Dyeing: From the Garden to Color – An Introduction to Natural Vegetable Dyes, will be published on March 11, 2025.
2.1.2. For linen or cotton
A first wash
To remove all primers and other residues.
Next, the fiber is animalized
This step is optional. It does, however, improve the adhesion of plant colorants, particularly on new fabrics. There are different techniques for doing this. The idea is to bathe the fabric in a protein-rich bath: goat’s milk, soya milk, etc.
I’ve been experimenting with egg whites, which really work.
This first bath is followed by drying.
Finally comes the preparation of the mordant baths
Prepare a decoction of symplocos and one of walnuts or sumac. The fabric is first immersed in a symplocos bath at 176°F (80°C) for 30 minutes to 1 hour, then in the tannin bath (same temperature and duration). For a deeper shade, you can repeat this bath alternation, reducing the duration.
Finally, leave to dry.
2.2 The madder dye bath
If you buy your madder, qualities vary from one supplier to another. Moreover, within the same supplier, the nuances can change from one year to the next. Soil type, harvesting period and climate are all factors that influence colorant concentration.
Madder roots are available in various forms: cut into small pieces, ground into powder, or as a plant extract.
The recommended amount for deep red tones is 100% of the weight of the fiber to be dyed. If madder is in extract form, refer to the manufacturer’s instructions.
2.2.1. First step in madder dyeing : extracting the colorant
This step is unnecessary when using madder extract. In this case, you go straight to the second step.
- Empty the madder roots into the saucepan.
- Cover with water to submerge the plant.
- Let stand at least overnight, preferably 24 hours.
- It’s ready when the juice is nice and red. If not, heat slowly to 140-168°F (60-70°C).
- Filter the decoction through cheesecloth.
- Reserve the juice.
2.2.2. Second stage of madder dyeing : the dye bath
- Pour the plant juice into a pot large enough to adequately spread out the fibers to be dyed.
- Add more water, if possible with hard water.
- Add the mordanted fibers, previously wetted and wrung out. Make sure they are completely submerged.
- Heat and raise temperature very gradually to 176-185°F (80-85°C) and hold at this temperature for at least 20 minutes and up to 1 hour.
- Turn off the heat and allow the dye bath to cool.
- Once the bath has cooled, remove the fibers and wring them out. Dry in the shade.
A few details on the madder dye bath:
- Madder thrives in calcareous water. If your water is soft, add a little chalk until the juice turns red (step 2). For linen or cotton, you can even soak your fabric in a chalk bath before dipping it in madder juice.
- In step 4, do not exceed 185°F (85°C), and do not raise the temperature to the boiling point, as this may alter the color. The red then turns brown.
- For a beautiful unison (step 4), stir regularly (every ten minutes or so) and gently.
- For washing, if your water has very little limescale and is slightly acidic, washing with a little washing-up liquid or a little chalk will redden the shades a little.
3. Vary the shades obtained with madder
Madder makes red, but not just red. Combined with other plants, the color palette expands.
Here are some suggestions for enriching your experiences:
- with indigo, for a deeper blue or chocolate brown
- with yellow plants, for oranges.
- with campêche wood for violets.
- with chestnut for a reddish brown.
There are two ways to do this:
- put the plants in the same tincture bath, provided that the plants have the same affinities to water quality (PH, hardness…) or
- proceed by successive baths, necessary and indispensable with indigo.
You can then explore the range of possibilities by varying the amount of plant in each bath.
This second shading bath comes in very handy for “catching up” on a color deemed too dull.
I like to work on these second baths until I find the nuance that catches my eye.
I’ll leave you to experiment with madder dyeing.
