I would like to dye a white cotton canvas tarp brown/tan with natural materials if possible
Any suggestions?
Regards
Any suggestions?
Regards
dyeing cotton canvas tarp HELP
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Tea coffe or onion skins will all give a good tan to mid brown finish.
I have used salt as a mordant - but Toddy is probably the one to ask for a full tutorial!
I have used salt as a mordant - but Toddy is probably the one to ask for a full tutorial!
Not sure for natural dyes, but for comercial ones ( the little hotel-room-milk-carten size ones ) need a full salt tub - about 500g i think. Been a while since i dyed anything.
Loz
Loz
xylaria
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Thats is a lot onion skin.
Nettle does dull green and is a bit easier to pick in right quantity, ie a good sackful. i guess i have only done small items.
Nettle does dull green and is a bit easier to pick in right quantity, ie a good sackful. i guess i have only done small items.
TRy this site, loads of ideas - i pasted the BROWN section for you. - and suggest a water/vinegar solution for fixing.
Plant Fixatives (for plant dyes) 4 parts cold water to 1 part vinegar
LINK
Wild plum root will give a reddish or rusty brown.
- Oak bark will give a tan or oak color.
- Sumac (leaves)
- Walnut (hulls) (deep brown)(wear gloves)
- Tea Bags (light brown)
- Juniper berries
- Coffee grinds
- Acorns (boiled)
- Yellow dock (produces shades of brown on wool)
- Beetroot (Dark Brown With FeSO4)
Plant Fixatives (for plant dyes) 4 parts cold water to 1 part vinegar
LINK
Wild plum root will give a reddish or rusty brown.
- Oak bark will give a tan or oak color.
- Sumac (leaves)
- Walnut (hulls) (deep brown)(wear gloves)
- Tea Bags (light brown)
- Juniper berries
- Coffee grinds
- Acorns (boiled)
- Yellow dock (produces shades of brown on wool)
- Beetroot (Dark Brown With FeSO4)
Banana and carrots leave grey marks behind if baby clothes were anything to go by when my kids were small! And NOTHING would wash it out!
Beetroot is good if you want that sort of colour - not terribly clever if you're going for subtle camoflage tho unless you're hiding against .... nope can't think of anything that colour for you to hide against.
I've only ever used machine dyes for proper dyeing rather than the accidental kind of the kid-based variety.
I'll second the salt for fixing colour. Cooking salt in the large bags works well and I reckon you want about 2 kgs of the stuff for that size tarp.
Beetroot is good if you want that sort of colour - not terribly clever if you're going for subtle camoflage tho unless you're hiding against .... nope can't think of anything that colour for you to hide against.
I've only ever used machine dyes for proper dyeing rather than the accidental kind of the kid-based variety.
I'll second the salt for fixing colour. Cooking salt in the large bags works well and I reckon you want about 2 kgs of the stuff for that size tarp.
Eric_Methven
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Set your tarp up like a pyramid, light a small fire beneath it and throw on loads of punky wood. Let the smoke do the colouring. After a few hours the inside will go brown all by itself (Think about how black the tops of Native American tipis go after a while.) Then when it's a shade you are happy with, turn it over and use the brown on the outside. It won't be uniform, but it will look a lot more natural. Most tarps were white to start with and browned with continual use. This is just a natural way to accelerate the process.
Alternatively, you can use ground up black walnut husk. You don't really need a mordant when you use walnut. It does stain skin as well though so wear marigolds.
Eric
Alternatively, you can use ground up black walnut husk. You don't really need a mordant when you use walnut. It does stain skin as well though so wear marigolds.
Eric
http://www.dylon.co.uk/products/dyes/fabric-dye-for-machine-use/dark-green.html
stops all the messing about and does the job
stops all the messing about and does the job
My experience of using machine dyes is that you'd need a lot of this for a canvas tarp. One certainly wouldn't do it.
hate to rain on this (excuse the pun), but dying a ready made tarp may be virtually impossible , especially if it's new. They tend to come with a waterproofing coating on them so the dye won't soak in very well if at all. the smoking idea would certainly work but it would be a coating and not a dyeing, so may come off (it could also destroy the waterproofing agent).
I reckon your best bet would be to buy a tarp of the rigth colour to start with. Try tent, sail or marquee companies, they often sell small bits (what we would call fair tarps) in a variety of colours and thicknesses.
I reckon your best bet would be to buy a tarp of the rigth colour to start with. Try tent, sail or marquee companies, they often sell small bits (what we would call fair tarps) in a variety of colours and thicknesses.
Hmmm, lots of interesting information and ideas 
Cotton is a plant fibres (cellulose) and that makes it awkward to dye using natural materials. It's not that you can't dye it, just not all that easily.
Firstly, is it coated with anything? A waterproofing or fireproofing agent ? 'Cos if it is, you'll have bother getting anything to dye it until that's been removed. Usually for canvas, soap and water and a big scrubbing brush will do. At the size you are talking that's a lot of elbow grease though.
For dyeing I think Eric's idea of smoking it is probably the easiest, though Dave is right too and some will wear off. Don't use birch unless you like tarry cloth.
Cellulose fibres need to be tanned before they are mordanted and then re-tanned and then dyed to do an effective job. The vital bit there is tanned, so any of the tannin rich substancess, be that tea or coffee or tree bark or galls or nuts will work on their own. But, you need not only the dye stuff made into a liquid, but you need a vessel big enough to move your tarp around in to let the dye take evenly.
Might I suggest that you make your own camouflaged dyed tarp ? That way even ness of dye is not important and you could make up various natural dyes and paint them on having first mixed them in a thickener, lilke gelatine or wallpaper or flour paste. It will be incredibly messy, but once the gunk is washed off you will have a coloured tarp. Whether it's the colour you want ah well, now that's up for debate
However, it will overcome both the need to soak the entire tarp at once *and* any problems about getting the tarp soaked through......which technically you ought not want the cloth to be able to do anyway.
Generally the natural dyes that will work best for this are tea, madder root, walnuts, or some of the imported bark dyes. They need to be tannin rich and in themselves substantive dyes that need no mordants.
Best of luck with it, let us know how you get on ?
cheers,
Toddy
Cotton is a plant fibres (cellulose) and that makes it awkward to dye using natural materials. It's not that you can't dye it, just not all that easily.
Firstly, is it coated with anything? A waterproofing or fireproofing agent ? 'Cos if it is, you'll have bother getting anything to dye it until that's been removed. Usually for canvas, soap and water and a big scrubbing brush will do. At the size you are talking that's a lot of elbow grease though.
For dyeing I think Eric's idea of smoking it is probably the easiest, though Dave is right too and some will wear off. Don't use birch unless you like tarry cloth.
Cellulose fibres need to be tanned before they are mordanted and then re-tanned and then dyed to do an effective job. The vital bit there is tanned, so any of the tannin rich substancess, be that tea or coffee or tree bark or galls or nuts will work on their own. But, you need not only the dye stuff made into a liquid, but you need a vessel big enough to move your tarp around in to let the dye take evenly.
Might I suggest that you make your own camouflaged dyed tarp ? That way even ness of dye is not important and you could make up various natural dyes and paint them on having first mixed them in a thickener, lilke gelatine or wallpaper or flour paste. It will be incredibly messy, but once the gunk is washed off you will have a coloured tarp. Whether it's the colour you want
ah well, now that's up for debate However, it will overcome both the need to soak the entire tarp at once *and* any problems about getting the tarp soaked through......which technically you ought not want the cloth to be able to do anyway.
Generally the natural dyes that will work best for this are tea, madder root, walnuts, or some of the imported bark dyes. They need to be tannin rich and in themselves substantive dyes that need no mordants.
Best of luck with it, let us know how you get on ?
cheers,
Toddy
Nettles are quite effective as a dye. They were used for some military cloth during the second world war.
Soak your cloth in a vinegar fixative before-hand (1 part vinegar to 4 parts cold water) put in cloth and simmer for about an hour.
Boil up your nettles - pop in your cloth and leave (simmer) until desire depth of colour. After a while simmering I might be tempted to leave it overnight to cool and increase the colour further.
Soak your cloth in a vinegar fixative before-hand (1 part vinegar to 4 parts cold water) put in cloth and simmer for about an hour.
Boil up your nettles - pop in your cloth and leave (simmer) until desire depth of colour. After a while simmering I might be tempted to leave it overnight to cool and increase the colour further.
