1OK, Jim.
2You wanted to see me about your textile design project.
3That's right.
4I've been looking at how a range of natural dyes can be used to colour fabrics like cotton and wool.
5Why did you choose that topic?
6Well, I got a lot of useful ideas from the museum,
7you know, at that exhibition of textiles.
8But I've always been interested in anything to do with colour.
9Years ago, I went to a carpet shop with my parents when we were on holiday in Turkey,
10and I remember all the amazing colours.
11They might not all have been natural dyes.
12Maybe not, but for the project I decided to follow it up.
13And I found a great book about a botanic garden in California that specialises in plants used for dyes.
14OK.
15So, in your project, you had to include a practical investigation.
16Yeah.
17At first I couldn't decide on my variables.
18I was going to just look at one type of fibre for example, like cotton...
19and see how different types of dyes affected it?
20Yes.
21Then I decided to include others as well,
22so I looked at cotton and wool and nylon.
23With just one type of dye?
24Various types, including some that weren't natural, for comparison.
25OK.
26So, I did the experiments last week.
27I used some ready-made natural dyes.
28I found a website which supplied them,
29they came in just a few days, but I also made some of my own.
30That must have taken quite a bit of time.
31Yes,
32I thought it'd just be a matter of a teaspoon or so of dye,
33and actually that wasn't the case at all.
34Like I was using one vegetable, beetroot, for a red dye,
35and I had to chop up a whole pile of it.
36So it all took longer than I'd expected.
37One possibility is to use food colourings.
38I did use one.
39That was a yellow dye, an artificial one.
40Tartrazine?
41Yeah. I used it on cotton first.
42It came out a great colour,
43but when I rinsed the material, the colour just washed away.
44I'd been going to try it out on nylon, but I abandoned that idea.
45Were you worried about health issues?
46I'd thought if it's a legal food colouring, it must be safe.
47Well, it can occasionally cause allergic reactions, I believe.
48So what natural dyes did you look at?
49Well, one was turmeric.
50The colour's great, it's a really strong yellow.
51It's generally used in dishes like curry.
52It's meant to be quite good for your health when eaten,
53but you might find it's not permanent when it's used as a dye -
54a few washes, and it's gone.
55Right.
56I used beetroot as a dye for wool.
57When I chop up beetroot to eat I always end up with bright red hands,
58but the wool ended up just a sort of watery cream shade. Disappointing.
59There's a natural dye called Tyrian purple. Have you heard of that?
60Yes. It comes from a shellfish,
61and it was worn in ancient times but only by important people as it was so rare.
62I didn't use it.
63It fell out of use centuries ago,
64though one researcher managed to get hold of some recently.
65But that shade of purple can be produced by chemical dyes nowadays.
66Did you use any black dyes?
67Logwood.
68That was quite complicated.
69I had to prepare the fabric so the dye would take.
70I hope you were careful to wear gloves.
71Yes. I know the danger with that dye.
72Good. It can be extremely dangerous if it's ingested.
73Now, presumably you had a look at an insect-based dye? Like cochineal, for example?
74Yes. I didn't actually make that,
75I didn't have time to start crushing up insects to get the red colour
76and anyway they're not available here,
77but I managed to get the dye quite easily from a website.
78But it cost a fortune.
79I can see why it's generally just used in cooking, and in small quantities.
80Yes, it's very effective, but that's precisely why it's not used as a dye.
81I also read about using metal oxide.
82Apparently you can allow iron to rust while it's in contact with the fabric, and that colours it.
83Yes, that works well for dying cotton.
84But you have to be careful as the metal can actually affect the fabric
85and so you can't expect to get a lot of wear out of fabrics treated in this way.
86And the colours are quite subtle, not everyone likes them.
87Anyway, it looks as if you've done a lot of work...