Organic Dyes to Pigments

Foundations for the Colors of Europe

Disc One
Metallic Salts to Make Organic Inks (03:21)
Workshop Introduction: Experimenting with Flowers
Michel brings cultivated flowers from the garden into the studio and uses them to apply designs
directly to paper. The colors initially appear a bit dull but they change dramatically when a basic
solution (soap) or an acid solution (lemon juice) are brushed onto the colors.
This is childs play since the colors a not stable in this form. The purpose of the film is to show
how to modify colors from the plants, and make them stable and useful.

Yellow from Pagoda Tree (09:12)

Michel uses blossoms from the Pagoda tree (Sophora japonica), a common tree cultivated in
Provence.
100 grams of dried flowers
Cover with water and bring to a good boil. Boil for 15-30 minutes
The sap from the flowers is now inside the liquid.
Filter the decoction through a light weight, fine mesh, polyester cloth
Add water to make one liter of liquid.
When this liquid is applied to paper, the results are a pale yellow color. When treated with soap
the color becomes more intense, and the color will disappear when treated with acid. The color is
not stable and any accident would damage the color.
Alum, an aluminum salt is used to stabilize the color. Add 20 grams (2%) potassium aluminum
sulfate to the solution. The liquid turns into a brilliant stable solution that can be used for making
inks or painting on silk.

Colors from Berries & Woods: Stabilizing Colors with Alum (15:46)
Michel uses locally collected buckthorn berries, brazilwood chips, and logwood chips to make
liquid plant decoction that will be stabilized with alum to make inks and silk paints.

Disc One: Colors of Europe

Chapter Notes copyright 2014 Michel Garcia & Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada

Buckthorn Berries (Rhamnus frangula)

100 grams dried buckthorn berries
(traditionally used for sap green, a popular water color)
Cover with water and boil for 15-30 minutes
Filter the decoction through fine mesh polyester cloth
to 700 ml solution add 14 grams alum (2%)
Brazilwood (Caesalpinia echinata)
100 grams Sappanwood or Brazilwood sawdust
Cover with water and boil for 15-30 minutes
Filter the decoction through fine mesh polyester cloth
To 800 ml solution add 16 grams alum (2%)
Logwood (Haematoxylum campechianum)
35 grams logwood chips
cover with water and boil for 15-30 minutes
Filter the decoction through fine mesh polyester cloth
To 600 ml solution add 12 grams alum (2%)
Add the alum while solutions are warm so that it dissolves easily.
Cool solutions before using.
Colors from Alum - Results
When the liquid decoctions are brushed on paper, the colors are brilliant and stable.
Alum is a good metallic salt for brilliant shades.
There are other metallic salts that are used to make dull or dark shades. The range of color may
be extended by using different metallic salts. Traditionally ink for writing was made with ferrous
salts.
Black from Gall Nut Tannin: Various Colors with Ferrous & Titanium (26:36)
The best black liquid extracts are made from tannin plus ferrous salts. There are various sources
of tannin. First, Michel discusses gall nuts.
Gall Nuts
100 grams ground European gall nuts (Quercus robur)
Cover with water, bring to a good boil and maintain boil for about 30 minutes
Filter the decoction through fine mesh polyester cloth
Separate the liquid into two equal parts of 600 ml each.
The resulting juice is not very dark but it will change with the addition of metallic salt.

Disc One: Colors of Europe

Chapter Notes copyright 2014 Michel Garcia & Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada

Black liquid
600 ml gall nut decoction
Add 40 grams ferrous sulfate
Immediately the juice turns very dark
Dark Gold/Orange liquid
600 ml gall nut decoction
Add 20 grams titanium (potassium titanyl oxalate), a metal that can be used safely and
reacts very strongly with tannin)
The juice turns dark orange
When the liquids are tested on paper the ferrous mixture starts gray and turns very dark black as
it oxidizes. Titanium produces a brilliant stable orange.
The choice of the metallic salt is crucial: alum, ferrous, or titanium.

Application of Colors on Paper and Silk (33:40)

Thickening Inks with Gum Arabic (33:40)
These stable colored liquids can be used for application on paper or silk but the preparations are
different.
When making ink for use on paper gum arabic is used as a thickening agent.
Measure out 100 ml of colored liquid (plant liquid + metallic salt)
Add 10 grams gum arabic powder (10%)
The liquid should be warm before adding the gum. The gum will dissolve more easily in a warm
solution. Choose finely ground gum arabic, it will dissolve more readily than crystals. Michel
adds the gum arabic into the liquid with electric stirrer/hot plate. If you do not have one of these,
warm the liquid, then add the gum while stirring with a whisk. Allow the mixture to sit for a
while in order to avoid any lumps. It will result in a fluid syrup.
Testing Inks on Paper (38:15)
Michel uses a simple folded a piece of paper to make a calligraphy pen. He tests each of the 6
inks on paper. They are all stable colors and do not bleed on the paper.

Disc One: Colors of Europe

Chapter Notes copyright 2014 Michel Garcia & Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada

The six inks

Orange: gall + titanium
Black: gall + ferrous
Green: buckthorn berries + alum
Purple: logwood + alum
Pink: brazilwood+ alum
Yellow: pagoda tree flowers + alum
Save the inks in small jars. Mix them with each other to achieve different colors.
Note: The inks can be preserved for a long time if a few drops of clove or thyme oil is added as
a preservative. Be sure when you use these inks that they are stirred well, so that you wont only
pick up the oil on the surface of the ink.

Preparing Silk Fabric for Painting (42:54)

If the liquids are to be used as a silk paint, the fabric must be prepared by adding another kind of
binder, a tannin. Silk has an affinity for tannin. When the cloth is dipped in a tannin solution it
will absorb the tannin and help fix the colors on the fabric.
Tannin Soak
10 grams gall nut tannin powder (1%)
1 liter warm water
Add silk and soak for 2 hours
Rinse and dry the cloth.
The silk will be beige in color from the tannin. This will help to fix the colors.

Thickening Silk Paints with Gums: Gum Arabic & Gum Tragacanth (45:26)
When using the liquids for silk paints they are thickened differently than the inks.
Guar gum (from a tropical bean) is used with the liquids made with alum or ferrous and gum
tragacanth (from the sap of a middle eastern legume) is used with the liquids made with titanium.
Alum or ferrous liquids
2 grams guar gum
200 ml liquid (1%)

Disc One: Colors of Europe

Chapter Notes copyright 2014 Michel Garcia & Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada

Michel mixes with magnetic stirrer to dissolve the guar gum. You may mix guar gum thoroughly
with a small whisk and allow the solution to sit until dissolved and fluid.
Titanium liquids
3 grams gum tragacanth
200 ml liquid (1.5%)
Michel mixes with magnetic stirrer to dissolve the gum tragacanth. Gum tragacanth usually
needs more vigorous stirring, such as a blender.
Painting Silk with Brushes, Blocks, or Silkscreen (48:24)
If painting with brushes, stretch the silk first.
When applying the silk paint with blocks or silkscreen, allow each color to dry completely before
applying the next color.
to finish:
Allow the paints to dry completely.
Prepare a chalk solution:
15 grams chalk (calcium carbonate)
Dissolve in 1 liter warm water.
Soak the dry cloth in the chalk solution for a few minutes. This will remove any excess of acid
from the alum, the gum on the surface of the cloth, and any un-fixed color.
Rinse the cloth in clear water and dry.
Results:
Many colors and combinations are possible from just a few colors by overlapping and mixing
colors.
Can Any kind of plant be used? Each plant has different characteristics and some of the plants
are not successful. Michel always encourages experimentation.

Precipitating Pigments: Liquid to Paste

Brown Pigment from Walnut Husks (1:13:50)
Walnut husks, collected in the fall are separated from the nuts. Only the husk is used for the
pigment, and is ground into a powder.
to make the decoction:
50 grams powdered walnut husk
Cover with water, bring to a good boil and maintain for 15 - 30 minutes.

Disc One: Colors of Europe

Chapter Notes copyright 2014 Michel Garcia & Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada

Filter the decoction through light weight polyester cloth.

To 500 ml of solution add 10 grams of alum (2%)
Precipitation
Observe that the particles of pigment begin to separate (precipitate) from the liquid when the
alum is added. These particles are not soluble in water. The pigment particles may be filtered
from the liquid at this point or the precipitation may be optimized by adding sodium carbonate
(soda ash).
To optimize the precipitation, add 5 grams (1%) of sodium carbonate to the filtered liquid. There
will be a reaction with lots of bubbles as the particles of color separate. Make sure to do this in a
container that is large enough to contain the bubbles. Stir down the bubbles vigorously.
Filter the solution through a cloth placed in a funnel or a colander. The cloth must be dense
enough to contain the pigment paste. A good quality cotton flannel works well. Wet the cloth
prior to filtering.
This will take some time. Be patient with the process. The pigment particles will be caught by
the fabric. This is a paste pigment. The clear liquid that filters through can be discarded.
Spoon out the walnut pigment paste. This is not used for painting directly but can be made into
powdered pigments or mixed with binders to make real paints. It may be stored as a paste or
dried.
We can make these same pigment pastes from many different plants.
More Lake Pigments (1:20:40)
Take some of the colored solutions we made with alum and brazilwood, logwood, pagoda, and
buckthorn berries (sap green). Use the original liquids without the gum arabic or guar gum.
Because they have some alum in them already they are a good starting point for making
pigments.
Add more alum to each solution: 10 grams (2%) of alum to approximately 500 ml of solution.
Add 5 grams (1%) sodium carbonate to precipitate the pigment.
The solution will bubble up and the color changes a bit. The pigment particles begin to separate
from the solution so that it can be filtered.
Stir vigorously to mix and settle down the bubbles before filtering through a cloth as with the
walnut.

Disc One: Colors of Europe

Chapter Notes copyright 2014 Michel Garcia & Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada

When the inks were made everything was in solution. Now we are separating the concentrated
color from the water. It will take a couple of hours for the filtering to be completed.
Storing and Preserving Pigment Pastes (1:26:30)
Transfer the pigment pastes into small jars.
Add a few drops essential oil of thyme or oil of clove to preserve the pastes. These essential oils
are anti-fungal agents. Shake well to distribute the oil. The pigment pastes can be preserved for
years.

Making Pure Pigments

Invitation to Experiment: Wild Plants (1:30:00)
Michel uses 2 plants gathered locally to make pigments.
Cosmos flowers
100 grams cosmos flowers from the garden
Cover with water
Add 30 grams alum (30%)
Boil at least 30 minutes
Wild sorghum
300 grams local wild sorghum from the family of reeds*
Cover with water
Add 100 grams alum (33%)
Boil at least 30 minutes
Filter the decoctions.
Measure sodium carbonate, using the weight of alum that was put into the decoction.
Dissolve the sodium carbonate in a small amount of hot water and add slowly to the plant
decoction. There will be a reaction with bubbles. Be sure to use a large container to contain the
bubbles. Stir down the bubbles.
The pigment will fall to the bottom of the container and begin to appear in the liquid.
Filter the pigments preparations through the flannel cloth.

Disc One: Colors of Europe

Chapter Notes copyright 2014 Michel Garcia & Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada

 The pigments may be stored as a paste or a dry powder.

*any reed will give a shade of green, depending on the the season it is collected.
From Pigment Pastes to Powder (1:40:10)
Pour a small quantity of the paste pigment into a small plastic container. Put in the microwave to
evaporate the water. You will start with a deep thick paste that will eventually turn into hard
stones of pigment.
Evaporate the pigment gradually. Heat it in microwave for short amounts of time. Keep
checking. Initially it will crack. Stop the microwave, remove the pigment and observe. Once it
stops steaming, put it in the microwave again.
Finish the drying process by breaking up the hard lumps, and continue to repeatedly heat it until
it no longer steams.
note: An electric food dehydrator can also be used to dry the pigments. Spread the paste pigment
on a plastic sheet and turn the dehydrator to high. The pigment should dry in several hours.
Grinding and Bottling Pigments (1:42:15)
When the pigment is completely dry, crush it carefully with a flat smooth stone on a smooth
surface. Crush until the pigment is very, very fine.
The crushed powder is a classical pigment lake, made from a plant. It may be stored in a small
bottle.
If water is added to the pigment lake, it might look like a paint but it is NOT. If applied to paper
with only the addition of water, it will rub off the paper when it dries.
To make a true paint, the pigment must be added to a binder, such as oil, egg, gum, or acrylic.
The type of paint is dependent on type of binder used.

Disc One: Colors of Europe

Chapter Notes copyright 2014 Michel Garcia & Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada