How To Dye With Avocado? Beginner Guide!
As much as avocados complement your every meal, there is a much wide range of their usefulness. One of the handiest usages of avocados is their ability to be a source of natural dyes. The resultant is a unique and distinctive variety of shades.
Some of the essential things to consider for avocado dyeing are as follows:
- The Right Quantity:
Before initiating your dye-making process, it is crucial to have a rough idea regarding the quantity you need to prepare. The amount of the dye will depend upon two factors.
- How deep do you want the color
- How much fabric do you want to dye
- Try Different Avocados:
While preparing a natural dye, you might go through some trial and error. Different avocados may result in variations in the color of the final product. Most often, even the ripeness of the fruit can yield a variety of colors. Hence, it is better to continue doing the process until you achieve your desired color.
- Choosing The Correct Fabric:
Choosing the accurate fabric for dyeing holds its significance. Natural dye only works with certain fabrics. Thus, picking the wrong fabric can lead to your hard work going in vain. So to make your dye work, your fabric must be a hundred percent natural fiber like
- Cotton
- Linen
- Hemp
- Wool
If you like to check themazi fabrics for natural dyeing click here.
- Pretreating The Fabric:
For getting deeper shades, plant-based fabrics like cotton need pretreatment with a mordant before dyeing. You can easily pretreat your fabric with oak gallnut, alum and many other options. On the other hand, animal-based fabrics like wool or silk can work well without any pre-mordant.
You can read How to Prepare Fiber/Fabric for Natural Dyeing?
- Removing The Avocado Flesh:
Letting go of the excess avocado flesh is necessary. Even its slight presence might turn your dye brown. So, try to remove it as much as possible by scraping it off with a spoon. It will help you in achieving some bright shades of the dye.
- Water pH Level:
If you are looking forward to brighter shades of pink, the water pH level might create a hurdle. You can turn the pH more alkaline by adding bicarbonate soda to the water. Other alternatives to gain vibrant shades of the dye include trying
- Filtered water
- Rainwater
- seawater
Steps Required To Prepare Avocado Dye:
If you are an avocado lover, you might be having some leftovers with you. Preparing an avocado dye is relatively simple and can be easily carried out in a few basic steps.
- Put avocado stones/skin in a saucepan containing cold water. The amount of water depends upon how much dye you need.
- Keep the heat low and cover it with a lid. Avoid cooking the avocado stones as it might alter the color of the dye.
- Check the dye after regular intervals until your desired color develops.
- Remove the avocado stones and strain out the dye to clear it from other debris.
- Add the fabric to the dye and leave it for a few hours, stirring occasionally.
- Once the fabric soaks in the maximum dye, rinse it with a mild soap.
- When the excess dye washes away, allow the fabric to dry. The final color might slightly lighten up.
- Now, you are ready to use the fabric for fun DIY projects.