Category: Ecoprints and Natural Dyes

AHA! There is tannin (catchetin, a non water soluble tannin) in the pits: “The seeds could also be used as a source of natural dye. Colour of the extract is supposedly connected to the procyanidins, the oligomeric compounds, formed from catechin and epicatechin molecules . Currently no reported research was performed in dyeing of textiles with avocado seed extract.” Tannins help alum bond tighter/better/stronger/Superman to cellulose fibres. But there are also anthocyanins, which are notoriously UNlightfast )—-remember those damn beets and hibiscus???).

There’s still no definitive evidence though that this tannin is strong enough on its own, though apparently it is used in South America as a tannin. I’ll do my usual prepping then on cellulose using a tannin (gallnut, which imparts little colour) and alum after, just to be sure that things “stick” 🙂

I decided to use the peels first (no tannin as far as i know), as the “extraction” is now turning a wee bit murky, signifying that other life forms could be spontaneously generating in there! There does appear to be a lot of dye colourant, though who knows how much of it is actually viable?

I threw in some wool yarn with alum, cotton with tannin and alum, cotton with rhubarb leaf, silk with alum, and silk with tannin and alum. ( I am aware that silk requires only alum, but adding the tannin may give different colours/shades, depending on the dyestuff.) I gently raised the temperature until it BARELY started to steam, then turned it off. NO boiling as it forces the browns. It will be left in the pot for a number of days, gently reheating once a day to reduce the possibility of mold and other potential ickies.

One thing i didn’t think about initially when i “potted” it in the narrow necked recycled juice bottle: everything swelled, and because i didn’t break into teeny pieces, they are a pain in the bazotski to get out! So, what the hell, filled it up again, threw in a glug of ammonia, and we’ll see if there’s more colour to come.

The pits are still stewing, with no sign of alien activity, so will leave that for a later time.

I’ll leave these in the bath for a couple of days, and see how much it deepens, then the lightfast tests commence. One good thing about summer in Calgary is the intensity of our sun in the summer due to our higher altitude, so tests will be easy–and relatively speedy!

EDIT APRIL 30/19: subsequent discussions in a natural textile dye group, and my own lightfast tests, have concluded that avocado’s lovely pinks will gradually oxidize to browns, because they are more a tannin, than a dye.

I’ve been trying to find research papers on the use of avocado as a textile dye, and have found little, though i have found a bit. The first link is a badly translated hoot, especially “The word avocado comes from nahuatl ahuacatl, which also siginifica testicles” or probably properly translated as “means testicles”. (Not sure how accurate that is either, as it may have been a joke on the Spanish invaders…)  Second link  is more “scholarly” though only a photo of the seeds is shown, no actual information on their use, and no actual listing, Latin or otherwise in the tables of plants used. Obviously this is a MesoAmerican dye, as avocados are only found in the “New World”. ( Central and South America).  (Somewhere down the rabbithole, i found a brief mention of deep purple blacks also, but i’ll be damned if i can find that again……although i did notice deeper purple splotches on one failed attempt, so who knows. Of course, i can’t find *that* either, but at the time it was the pits only that i had used.) I do wonder too about the popularity of avocado dye having such a bandwagon–who “re-discovered” it, had a “happy accident”, did any research?

The pits are reportedly high in tannins–though i’m not sure how to qualify that. I suspect too that the skins are going to be less permanent, but i could be wrong, as i haven’t any scientific information to back any of this up. The only other research paper i could find mentioned an orange colour from the pit, but no mention as a textile dye, just as a food additive. I’m therefore going to keep the pits and peels separate in dye baths also, when it comes time to use the extractions. I’m allowed to have avocados in my diet luckily (in moderation) , after recent heart issues, diet being one item of speculation, so still plan on saving more bits!

I fortunately have stumbled into a Chilean dyer on a FB group, and she offered to share any historically accurate info she finds in her own search for these geo-centric dyes.

Meantime, the brews deepen in colour, while i work on other parts of the Summer Madder Project!

EDIT APRIL 30/19: subsequent discussions in a natural textile dye group, and my own lightfast tests, have concluded that avocado’s lovely pinks will gradually oxidize to browns, because they are more a tannin, than a dye.

I’m willing to try some dyes that are not in the classic dye histories, at least not in “western” use, but i never assume they are going to work, or last. Avocado peels and pits are the newest trend/fashion it seems, and i admire some of the gorgeous pinks people are getting. I’m not normally a fan of pink, but it *is* in the red family, so why not a little experiment?

I’ve tried avocados before, and the first time, i got NADA, the second time, an insipid languishing Victorian heroine pink. I did the time-tested huck-it-in-a-pot-and-simmer method, and used premordanted fabrics, but. Didn’t bode well for further experimentation!

I decided to really search online for information but take very little on faith, particularly from some sites i’ve visited. When most of them are written by blackbean/turmeric/beetjuice/raspberry aficionados, there’s a large grain of salt attached to the “results”. There is however, Rebecca Desnos, a person who has done research and much experimentation and has had marvellous results. The only problem i personally have is that she only “mordants” with soy milk. (Soy milk is NOT a mordant, it is a binder…. and yes, i know it is a valid method of treating fabrics, as the Japanese have done for millennia for indigo usage, but still not a mordant as indigo does not require one, being substantive.) I will never use soy milk again, as the results i had with it were ABYSMAL, stripping colour from logwood and even wreaking havoc on potassium permanganate (an inorganic compound), though i have friends who swear by it. Also, she never shows or talks about lightfastness!

Further research on my part has found that an alkaline soaking first will result in more colour being pulled from the plant materials, though i have also read that the colour is an anthocyanin, notoriously short on lightfastness. I’m not sure how long to leave it though in the solution, as it seems some are doing a couple of days, and others, several months.

I separated the skins from the pits, and these are the results after 2 days:

Above, peels, below, pits.

I didn’t chop the pits, so obviously it will take longer to extract any colour. The peels practically exploded after an hour, however. I’ll leave them until i think they are ready (how scientific is that? 🙂 ) , or until it looks like they might just be about to go funky.

And when i do use them, they will be on the correct cellulose/protein appropriately premordanted fibres, and lightfast tests will be conducted.

EDIT APRIL 30/19: subsequent discussions in a natural textile dye group, and my own lightfast tests, have concluded that avocado’s lovely pinks will gradually oxidize to browns, because they are more a tannin, than a dye.