Madder Red

This week I finished making a red ink and lake pigment from madder roots. The active chemical ingredient extracted from the roots is called alizarin. Another plant that offers a red colour is lady’s bedstraw though this is a protected plant in many areas of Scotland.

I started by simmering the roots, which I purchased from Bailiwick Blue in Guernsey, in my Scottish tap water. Once the dye appeared to be flowing from the roots, I switched off the heat and allowed the liquid mixture to cool.

I then strained and filtered out the madder plant matter, leaving me with a dark brownish red liquid. From this, I decanted a small amount to dye a sheet of pattern drafting paper and poured 50ml into a small jar, adding a drop of thyme oil as a natural antiseptic and a small piece of gum arabic to slightly thicken the ink. The sewing pattern drafting paper has a high tearing strength and so it is really good to use when dyeing paper for chine collé.

I now had approximately 300ml of liquid left. To this I added a small amount of alum and soda ash to provoke a chemical reaction that would alter the soluble madder pigment into its insoluble form. After a repeated cycle of filtering and washing, I spread the madder-rich coffee filter paper to dry. After a week, I had a beautiful madder lake pigment ready to be made into a printing ink. It could equally be made into a pastel, an oil paint or a watercolour paint.

If you’d like to have a go making your own lake pigment from botanical materials, I highly recommend the following book:

“From Plant to Pigment” by Natalie Stopka

Good luck and happy dyeing!

Making a madder ink and lake pigment