Weld Natural Dye

Shepherd Textiles Weld Natural Dye contains the chopped flowers and stems of reseda luteola, sometimes referred to as Dyer’s Rocket. Weld is known as one of the most powerful and lightfast of the natural dyes, and for that reason it was the preferred yellow of professional dyers in continental Europe for many hundreds of years. It gives bright, clear yellows, neither tending too much to orange or to green, and the dyed color is resilient to sunlight. Weld was also essential for getting a lightfast green; the fibers would be “bottomed” in an indigo vat and then dyed with weld to get clear hunter green shades.

Our Turkish weld is very potent, and will give dark yellows at 100% weight-of-fabric on fibers mordanted with alum. Weld stems are tough and fibrous, so the color has to be extracted in a similar manner to wood chips. Soak the dried weld in acidified water overnight (pH 4-5; if you don’t have pH strips, just add a tablespoon of vinegar). The next day, bring to a boil and then simmer for an hour before straining out the weld. Add 3% calcium carbonate at this stage (optional) to deepen the yellow. After entering the fibers, raise the heat gradually for an even dye job. For more details and color recipes, check out our Guide to Dyeing with Weld (coming soon).

Product of Turkey.