silk making step 3: dyeing

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most of the dyes are obtained from natural resources of the immediate surrounding, offering an exquisite palette of different hues. these leaves of the wild indigo plant are a major source of natural black or blue, other colors are obtained from: yellow – jackfruit orange – bisea red – sappanwood maroon, pink and purple red – lac green – myrobalan grey – coconut blue-grey – eucalyptus green-grey – butterfly pea purple grey – simarubaceae brown – cutch khaki – mango and cutch …

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after washing and degumming, there is a bleaching (and drying) process before dyeing.

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the colour derived from soaking fabric in hot mixture of indigo leaves. the bundles of threads are soaked in the dye pots for several times over many days to achieve the proper color tone and quality. then the colours need to be fixed (roots of natural morinda germinata are reported to serve as a fixing agent). these traditional methods of dye production have elsewhere al most been driven to commercial extinction, and dyeing with synthetic indigo and a wide variety of other synthetic colors is booming. in this study (conducted by professor wichai lailawitmongkhol – see intro page) the indigenous practices are documented and taught to the village people before they are completely lost.