Natural and Artificial Dyes: Differences

One of the most important operations in the production of a rug is the dyeing of the fabrics.

This is an operation that had always been carried out with dyes from natural substances (vegetable, mineral or animal), until the end of the nineteenth century when, from the West, artificial dyes or anilines, discovered in 1856, were introduced.

Due to the great increase in the sale of oriental carpets since the end of the nineteenth century, traditional production is not able to meet the great demand and workshops and factories begin to appear.

Although the carpets they produce are always manual, they are knotted by a large group of artisans under one roof, and the use of artificial dyes is also widespread, which greatly accelerates the process while significantly reducing costs.

Tintado natural de la lana

The dyeing process is, in a very summarized way, as follows:

The wool we want to dye is first introduced into a concentrated bath of alum or tin oxide or iron sulphate, these components act as “mordants”, their function is to react chemically with the dyes and form an insoluble compound that is stably fixed to the yarn we are going to dye.

Then it is dyed with a dye bath in the same jar and finally all that wool is put to dry.

Before the appearance of synthetic dyes, artisans only used natural dyes from substantial vegetables, these were the most prominent:

* Red is obtained from the root of grana.

*The blue comes from indigo leaves.

* The yellow of saffron or vine leaves.

* The grays and browns of the natural color of the wool itself.

* Green mixing blue and yellow with copper sulfate.

* The black iron oxide found in gallnut.

In the images above you can see the natural dyeing process from the jars with the wool and dye to drying.

Secado de la lana

Tintado artificial de la lana

In the last photo we can see the simplicity of the artificial dye: Open the sachet and pour the artificial coloring into the jar.

In the following video this process is clearly shown, although it corresponds to the region of Oaxaca, Mexico, the process is the same:

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