Natural dyeing with Cutch

Natural Dyeing silk masks with Cutch for Vince

A few weeks back, we shared dyeing basics and nuanced techniques with our community on how to naturally dye silk masks at home. This was one of my favorite collaborations with Vince, an iconic California luxury lifestyle brand. I am always inspired by the textiles, silhouettes and materials that Vince offers. One thing that I love about the brand is many of their pieces feature natural fibers, such as cashmere, cotton, linen and silk, all of which are ideal for Natural Dyeing. For this workshop, we hand-dyed masks using Cutch, an historic natural dye-stuff found in the heart center of the acacia tree. Not only does Cutch yield a beautiful range of colors but it smells quite earthy and nice when it's simmering. 

Our Natural Dye kits included. 

• CUTCH EXTRACT
• ALUM MORDANT
• ​SILK MASKS w/adjustable ear loops 
  
• WOODEN STICKS
• RUBBER BANDS
• FABRIC POUCH (dip to test color)

All dye-stuff was pre-measured to be sure they correct ratios of dye-stuff to WOF (weight of fiber) Cutch is used at 30% WOF. It can be used to produce a range of colors from camel browns to espresso, These were many of the neutrals that inspired me within the Vince collection. 

You can learn more about the process here: 
The first thing to do is always prepare your fibers. In this case, we use a mordant: Alum because Cutch is high in tannin, and does not require an additional tannin (for cellulose only). For clarification, although our masks were silk, some dyers also up-cycled clothing items such as cotton tees. 

 A mordant is a mineral salt that is used to allow the dye to more readily color the fibers. With this dye the use of an alum mordant is known to shift the color toward golden- so some may skip this step to achieve red-browns instead. Cutch also appears more red brown due to the silk! 

Photo at Vince West Hollywood store

Part of the beauty & magic of natural dye is the range of colors and the other is the part that the color truly is plant color derived from nature that is colorfast and lightfast! Anthony G, the Palisades store manager and I, had so much fun tie-dyeing out on the veranda.

If you would like to learn more about Natural Dyes, receive free tutorials and invites to workshops then be sure to join our community of textile designers, dyers and artists! 

If you feel ready to take a deeper dive in to Natural Dyes & would love to start up cycling all of your linens and belongings- then take a look at my self-paced e-course Intro to Natural Dyes: Primary and take the plunge into Natural Dyes this January!

Intro to Natural Dyes: Primary

Last but not least, we still have a handful of similar Natural Dye Design kits available so you can snag one here while supplies last!