Myrobalan

Myrobalan nuts are a rich source of tannins, offering a variety of earthy shades. When used on their own, they give light yellow, beige, cream, and light brown on both cellulose and protein fibers. Introducing an iron post-mordant can transform these shades into various greys, blacks, and browns.

Myrobalan nuts can be used with or without mordants. Also, being a great source of tannins, they can be used as an organic tannin mordant for other dyes. Additionally, myrobalan is great for using it as a 2-step mordant with aluminum acetate for cellulose.

In various nations, myrobalan is considered as a medical plant, especially in Ayurvedic medicine. Textiles, dyed with myrobalan, can be imparted with properties such as antimicrobial, and antifungal.

Moreover, it can be used for making botanical ink, watercolors, printing paste, and a variety of other dyes.

Name: myrobalan

Latin name: Terminalia Chebula

Other names: black myrobalan, chebulic myrobalan, haritaki, mirobaran, shilikha

Type: mordant dye, no-mordant dye, organic mordant

Part of plant used: nuts

Colorants: various tannins

Main colors: beige, grey, black

Other colors: soft shades of yellow, tan, black, brown

Purpose: natural dye for textiles, leather, wood, candles, and other natural materials. Can be used as an organic mordant for other natural dyes. Can be used for making botanical inks, pastels, watercolors, printing paste, etc. 

Dyeing and mordanting with myrobalan:

• Use at 10-20 % WOF (weight of fiber) when mordanting.

• Use at 20-40 % WOF (weight of fiber) when dyeing.

• Add myrobalan powder to the dyeing pot filled with water, and stir well.

• Raise temperature to 70-80°C and simmer for 1 hour. Let it cool. You may simmer longer for darker colors.

• Strain through a fine cloth to keep small particles out of the dye bath.

• Fibers, whether pre-mordanted or unmordanted, should be soaked in water for at least 30 minutes before adding to the dye solution.

• Immerse fibers in the myrobalan solution and simmer for 30-60 minutes, depending on the desired shade. Allow the solution to cool. You may simmer and soak longer if you wish to get deep, dark tones.

• For dark grey or black shades, you can place myrobalan-dyed fibers into ~ 2% WOF iron sulfate solution or add a pinch of iron directly into the myrobalan dye. Also, you may use iron-mordanted fibers.