Amur Cork Natural Dye

Shepherd Textiles Amur Cork natural dye contains the soft, yellow inner bark of phellodendron amurense, a deciduous tree native to East Asia. The bark is rich in plant alkaloids including berberine, limonin, and phellodendrine. It is considered one of the foundational herbs of Traditional Chinese Medicine - the bark was harvested around the summer solstice, dried, and used to treat inflammation and bacterial diseases. More recently, extracts of the bark have been patented and explored as a treatment for pancreatic cancer. It has also been used for thousands of years as a yellow dye. The pigments in the bark are substantive to protein fibers - they do not require a mordant - and on silk they produce fantastic, deeply saturated lemon yellow shades.

Ours is the top medicinal grade of Amur Cork bark, grown and harvested in South Korea and carefully cut to remove the brown outer bark (which contains tannins that would muddy the color). Use at 100% weight-of-fabric on unmordanted silk or wool. Soak the bark overnight, then simmer gently for an hour to extract the color. Please note that mordants will dull the color or leech it out of the fiber entirely. For more details and color recipes, check out our Guide to Dyeing with Amur Cork Bark.

Product of South Korea.