Indian madder is one of European madder’s close relatives, and the two plants have both been part of human history for many centuries. Every natural dyer knows madder. Madder (Rubia tinctorum), which I’m going to refer to as European madder here, is one of the standard colors in the natural palette – the only good […]
Most sources agree that you need chalk to unlock the true reds of madder. I’ve always had a difficult time reconciling that with my own results, so experiments were called for. ~ I spent the past summer with a lot of experimental dyeing, and one of my themes was how chalk affects madder red. Earlier […]
Madder has several relatives that are also rich in useful reds. These plants are native here in Denmark, and have been used as red dyes a very long time back. Believe it or not, the year is drawing to a close. So, I want to try to summarize all the many dyeing experiments I did […]
Madder is one of the most ancient dyes, and one that is described in pretty much any book on natural dyeing. But every book seems to give a slightly different method for obtaining the sought-after madder red. There’s only one thing to do – experiment! Madder was one of the first natural dyestuffs I tried […]