Gum Arabic Powder

Gum arabic is a natural gum from acacia trees (mainly Acacia senegal). In natural dyeing it is used as a thickener and binder: it turns liquid dye extracts and mordant solutions into a paste you can print, stamp, stencil or paint onto fabric without the color spreading.

Sizes: 50 g and 400 g.

What you can do with gum arabic

• Print with dye extracts: thicken natural dye extracts such as madder, weld or buckthorn to paint or block print on mordanted fabric.
• Print with mordants: thicken alum or iron solutions to print patterns, then dye the whole cloth: the color is strongest where the mordant was printed.
• Make natural inks and paints: gum arabic is the traditional binder for oak gall ink and watercolor paints.

How to make a printing paste

1. Sprinkle gum arabic powder into warm water while stirring, and leave it for about 30 minutes to dissolve and thicken. As a starting point, try about 1 part powder to 4 parts water by weight, then adjust.
2. Stir in your dissolved dye extract or mordant solution.
3. Test on a scrap of fabric. If the print bleeds, add more gum; if it is too stiff to spread, add a little water.
4. Print or paint, let the fabric dry completely, then fix the print: rinse, or for mordant prints give the fabric a chalk bath with calcium carbonate before dyeing.

Tips

• Gum arabic washes out after printing, so it does not stiffen the finished fabric.
• For very fine lines, a stronger thickener such as guar gum needs much less material; gum arabic gives a softer, smoother paste for painting.
• Store the powder sealed and dry. Mixed paste keeps for a few days in the fridge.

Related: How to dye fabric with natural extracts · Dye assists and modifiers

Frequently asked questions

What is gum arabic used for in natural dyeing?

It thickens dye extracts and mordant solutions into a paste for printing, stamping and painting on fabric, and it binds natural inks.

Does gum arabic stay in the fabric?

No. It washes out after the print is fixed, so the fabric stays soft.

How much gum arabic should I use?

Start with about 1 part powder to 4 parts water by weight and adjust until the paste prints cleanly without bleeding.

Read the guide: Soda ash, chalk and gum arabic guide

Work out exact grams for your fabric with our free natural dye calculator and WOF chart.