Harvest – Henna

Description

Henna (Lawsonia inermis) Henna (E)
Family: Lythraceae
Paints yellow-orange-red-brown

Henna was already used in ancient times by the Egyptians to paint hands and feet and to dye hair.
The henna bush can still be found in very warm areas, such as India, the Middle East and North Africa.
Lawsone is the orange-red coloring compound extracted from the leaves of the henna bush and released when the leaves are dried and ground into a powder.
You can dye yellow, red and brown shades with henna.
For lighter tones, you can use 50 grams of henna for 100 grams of fiber. If you are going for more intense and deeper colors, use about 100 grams of henna powder.
Various mordants can affect the colour. For example, you can add citric acid to get deeper orange-red colors.

Facts

Henna…

• • … The fragrances from the flowers of the henna bush are used for perfumes.
  • … India is the largest producer of henna.
  • … dyes your blond hair red, brown hair turns into auburn and gray hair turns orange.

Henna Recipe

Basic recipe for 100 grams of wool and silk to dye golden yellow.

Necessities:

- 100 grams of henna
– 15 grams of alum
- 2 grams of cream of tartar
– 1 cup vinegar
– laundry bag or cheesecloth
– 2 old (cast iron) pans
– electric stove or stove
– apron, gloves
– (glass) jars, buckets or trays

Step 1: Wash (only if you are going to dye cotton, skip step 1 if you are going to dye wool or silk)
Fill a bucket with plenty of water and 2 cups of household soda and leave your cotton in it for 24 hours. Rinse well the next day.

Step 2: pickling
Dissolve the alum and tartar in a pot of hot water. Put 3-5 litres of water in the (pickling) pan and add the alum and tartar mixture. Soak the wool, silk or cotton in a bucket of water and when completely soaked, add them to the pickling pan. Bring the temperature to 80 degrees (not hotter). Let this simmer for over an hour. Then let the fibres cool slowly in the pickling bath. You can leave this overnight or get started immediately.

Step 3: Dyeing
Fill a pot with warm to hot water and add the henna while stirring. Once the henna powder is completely dissolved, you can throw it into your dye pan and fill your dye pan with 3-5 litres of water.
Bring the dye bath to about 80 degrees and simmer for over an hour.
Lower the temperature to 30 degrees (Tip to speed up this process: put your pan in the sink with cold water) and add the wool or silk. Bring back to 80 degrees and simmer for 45-60 minutes.
Then let the dye bath with the fibres in it cool slowly.

Step 4: Fix
Rinse the fibers and let it sit in a bucket of water with 1 cup of vinegar for an hour. Then rinse well and hang to dry.