Natural Dyes

                                    

Natural Dyes are colors or dyes which are commonly extracted from plants sources, herbs, and flower petals by following eco-friendly methods for preparation.

The art of making natural dyes in India is one of the oldest practice of people to bring beautiful appearance to the clothes and fabrics. In earliest days dyes were made by berries and fruits, with gradual development and experimentations vegetable dyes acquired high yields in popularity and practice,

in ancient times India was expertise in natural and vegetable dyes production, there are also mentions to dyes and their use in "Arthasastra of Kautilya".

Nearly 1400 years ago the cave painting of Ajanta gives evidence to the use of printed and dyed costumes, India had owned exclusive production of painted and hand dyed printed fabric textiles.

In the 19th century  discovery of chemical dyes in the west had shown an aggressive impact on  these dyes, so that the use of natural dyes gradually declined which were more expensive and  needs extra manpower and more time consumption for production when compared to chemical dyes, nowadays there  are only a few areas which  are using these dyes for painting and coloring of fabrics.

Some chemical dyes are found very hazards to the skin and lungs which affect human life, therefore environmentalist started researching for natural dyes which are eco-friendly and biodegradable which create no harm to the human life. So the use of natural and vegetable dyes are coming into existence.

Basic Sources Of Vegetable and Natural Dyes

Basic sources of Vegetable and Natural Dyes are plant sources like roots of dye yielding plants, herbs, leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, and stems.

Dyes used for printing and painting are Lac(REDDISH SHADES), Black myrobalan(Harda), Indigo Blue(BLUE), Kamala Dye(YELLOW), Pomegranate(YELLOW SHADES), Walnut(BROWN), Tamarind Tree(Mali), Manju Phal(CREAM AND GRAY), Madder(RED, PINK, ORANGE SHADES), Alizarin(PINK, RED, PURPLE SHADES) .