I’m glad that I spent a few days last week preparing the raised garden beds, turning soil, pulling weeds, etc. The last few days have been great weather wise.
Yesterday Blue Jay, Lucy, Pi Guy and I took a bike ride to the Dog Tooth Café. Awesome weather, in the seventies, blue sky.
I also went to Rick’s Garden Center, I found that they carry Burpee seeds, and a flyer sent out recently had a 20% coupon on Burpee seeds. I asked Blue Jay if she wanted to go. If all the spring flowers were out she would have gone. As it was it was just me.
Rick's did have the Starlet Scarlet Marigold that Jael insisted on from A Dyer’s Garden. I also purchased some Basil, Shasta Daisy, Hibiscus, Zinnia, Mammoth Sunflower, some regular Marigold mix, and Red Hot Poker Mix just for fun. I also purchased some peat pots.
I still have some mordant that I need to buy to make our experiments complete. For the tin mordant, was able to locate stannous chloride at B & H Photo. This, also, is a special order for them. I ordered it with the alum, it should take two to four weeks. They have it for about $30 for100 grams. I opted for the 10 gram size (for starters) at $6.
Potassium dichromate for the chrome mordant is a slightly different story. If you happen to be in New York City, B & H Photo has potassium dichromate, but because of the hazard, they don’t ship it. It has it’s own personal “No Fly Zone”. I have some more research to do. I was thinking a metal plating shop. The nearest to me is Denver, about 60 miles distant. But I have located some about 10 miles closer at Colorado Scientific Company. They sell educational materials.
The purchase list for mordants is: ammonium aluminum sulfate and stannous chloride, copper sulfate, and tannic acid from B&H Photo, allowing two to four weeks; Cream of Tarter from Safeway or King Soopers; walnut shells from walnuts also from Safeway or King Soopers. We were fortunate to find copper sulfate for copper mordanting in a home school chemistry set, with the option to replenish our supplies from there. Or, our stand by B & H Photo has it. ~$9/ lb.
Happy fabric treating!
Showing posts with label Modants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Modants. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Mordant info (1 of 2)
Mordants treat the fabrics so that the color imparted by the dye bonds to the fibers. There are several kinds, aluminum, tin, chrome, and copper are some of the most common
For aluminum mordants I’ll start with ammonium aluminum sulfate, which I can get from B & H Photo, ~$15 for a pound, as a photographer’s developing reagent. B & H is probably the least expensive source for craft sized projects. They special order it, so it would be good to note a two to four week lead time for delivery.
Ely Drugs sells 12 oz. of ammonium aluminum sulfate for ~$16, http://store.elydrugs.biz/alumpge.html they have a stated use as for pickling. And, another supplier, (kosher even) is Holland Company, I didn’t check the pricing but they supply it for wastewater treatment.
Another use that I became aware for ammonium alum of is in the manufacture of deodorant. The Delicious Organics folks, http://www.deliciousorganics.com/Controversies/aluminum.htm warn against the use of these deodorants, which might be worthy of note. (They do give aluminum chloride a (relatively) clean bill of health in anti-perspirants because it affects the production of perspiration differently. But reading up on aluminum chloride eliminates it from consideration as a mordant for right now.)
When I spent some time at the local markets looking for alum for pickling, none of the supermarkets nor any of the niche food markets carried it.
The aluminum mordants are used in conjunction with things like Cream of Tarter and tannic acid. I’ll have to get my own supply of Cream of Tarter so as not to alter the kitchen equilibrium. Apparently Cream of Tarter is used along with protein fibers like wool and silk, so, for my beginning purposes, wool.
I didn’t expect that mordants would be this time consuming. I’ll continue with, and should finish with info and sources next time. I might have more later when considering some other dyes, like the Hopi black dye. (What did they use?)
For aluminum mordants I’ll start with ammonium aluminum sulfate, which I can get from B & H Photo, ~$15 for a pound, as a photographer’s developing reagent. B & H is probably the least expensive source for craft sized projects. They special order it, so it would be good to note a two to four week lead time for delivery.
Ely Drugs sells 12 oz. of ammonium aluminum sulfate for ~$16, http://store.elydrugs.biz/alumpge.html they have a stated use as for pickling. And, another supplier, (kosher even) is Holland Company, I didn’t check the pricing but they supply it for wastewater treatment.
Another use that I became aware for ammonium alum of is in the manufacture of deodorant. The Delicious Organics folks, http://www.deliciousorganics.com/Controversies/aluminum.htm warn against the use of these deodorants, which might be worthy of note. (They do give aluminum chloride a (relatively) clean bill of health in anti-perspirants because it affects the production of perspiration differently. But reading up on aluminum chloride eliminates it from consideration as a mordant for right now.)
When I spent some time at the local markets looking for alum for pickling, none of the supermarkets nor any of the niche food markets carried it.
The aluminum mordants are used in conjunction with things like Cream of Tarter and tannic acid. I’ll have to get my own supply of Cream of Tarter so as not to alter the kitchen equilibrium. Apparently Cream of Tarter is used along with protein fibers like wool and silk, so, for my beginning purposes, wool.
I didn’t expect that mordants would be this time consuming. I’ll continue with, and should finish with info and sources next time. I might have more later when considering some other dyes, like the Hopi black dye. (What did they use?)
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