After 8 years dedicated to Natural Dyes and EcoPrinting, i can 100% say that for me, Mordanting, is the key process to achieve beautiful Colors and Prints.
I wrote this post on my first old Blog (long time ago) and i still agree with everything I wrote by then.
With all the information i’ve got after reading the Books of Jenny Dean, India Flint and Rebecca Desnos and Taking a Workshop with Lucila Kenny.
I was ready to give it a try by my own and the first thing I found out was that I must take care about my Mordant.
The most important step to work with Natural dyes (and now I see why).
The 3 mordants that I chose to try are:
While most dyers use Aluminium (AA) as a Mordant (or fixer) because is easier to find and use, Lucila Kenny encouraged me to find out more about Lycopodium - a rare plant used as a Mordant from which Alum can be extracted from- while Rebecca Desnos recommend in her Book the use of Soy Milk (a binder) as a more Natural way to reach real Natural colors without adding any kind of chemicals to the process.
This is my experience in the process:
