Arjuna
Terminalia arjuna
€5.80
Out of stock
The bark of arjuna (lat. Terminalia arjuna) is best known for its rich tannin content, making it an excellent natural dye that produces warm earthy tones ranging from soft beige to deep browns, copper oranges, and similar warm shades. It is also valued for its ability to enhance color depth and improve the durability of other natural dyes. When using arjuna as a dye you can use both mordanted and unmordanted fibers. Besides tannins, the bark of arjuna has various flavonoids, so you will get even more shades with varying mordants, pH levels, and dye preparation methods.
Additionally, arjuna is valued in traditional medicine for its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, often used to support heart health and overall well-being.
Name: Arjuna
Latin name: lat. Terminalia arjuna
Other names: Arjun tree, Arjuna bark, Indrajav, and Matti.
Type: mordant dye, no-mordant dye.
Part of plant used: bark
Colorants: various tannins and flavonoids
Main colors: warm brown and orange
Other colors: burns orange, light brown, beige, golden yellow, brown
Purpose: natural dye for textiles, leather, wood, candles, and other natural materials. Can be used for making botanical inks, pastels, watercolors, printing paste, etc. Especially popular for ebonizing wood.
Dyeing with Arjuna:
Use 15% WOF (weight of fiber); for example, use 15 grams arjuna for 100 grams of fibers. You may use less for lighter shades and more for darker shades.
Add arjuna powder to the dyeing pot filled with water and stir well. You may leave it to soak overnight.
Raise the temperature to 70-80°C and simmer for 40 minutes. Let it cool. You may simmer longer for darker colors.
Strain through a fine cloth to keep small particles out of the dye bath.
Soak your mordanted or unmordanted fibers for 30-60 minutes in clean water, and make sure your fibers are thoroughly wet.
Take wet fibers out of the soaking water and add them to the dye solution. Simmer for 30-60 minutes, depending on the depth of shade desired. Allow to cool.
Take fibers out of the dye bath and leave them to dry.
Wash until the water is clear.
Additional notes:
For darker shades, you can place dyed and unwashed fibers into ~ 2% WOF iron sulfate solution or add a pinch of iron directly into the dye. Also, you may use iron-mordanted fibers. For wider pallets, you can use copper sulfate instead of iron sulfate.
For a broader color palette, try adding a pinch of citric acid, soda ash, or chalk to your dye bath before adding fibers. This will change the pH of the dye bath, which results in some color changes. Also, you may modify your colors after dyeing by soaking dyed fibers in solutions of citric acid or soda ash.