Alkanet Root Dye

Alkanet Root Dye Recipe for Linen, Cotton and Cellulose Fibres
Alkana Tinctoria

for 100 grams of fibre
20 grams Alkanet Root dye powder
Soak the Alkanet in a glass jar overnight with a bit of alcohol. This helps to release the dye pigment from the Alkanet. I leave the jar outside as the alcohol fumes can be overpowering and flammable.

The following day Put Alkanet Root into dye pot filled with water.
Let simmer in dyepot for +1 hour at 50 deg.
Add pre-mordanted wool yarn and sample fabrics.
Let simmer in dyepot for at least hour.
Leaving the yarn in the dyepot longer will give you stronger colour. Remove the wool yarn. Let this cool and rinse thoroughly to remove the excess dye powder.
For strong colours with linen or cotton, I often leave the yarns to soak overnight. Remember to turn the heat off, if leaving dyebaths overnight.More colour will continue to develop as the dyebath cools.

Alkanet Wool Linen

Alkanet Root is pH sensitive

All cellulose fibres, yarns and fabrics must be scoured prior to mordanting or dyeing. Please see my previous article on how to do this.

For these samples, I used several different linen and cotton fabrics as well as wool yarn.

Alkanet Yarn

Bleached Cotton
Unbleached Cotton
Bleached Linen
Linen/Cotton Blend
Natural Linen (light weight)
Natural Linen (heavy weight)

Alkanet Root – Alkanna Tinctoria