Can I extract the true red from madder roots ?
For a number of years, I have grown my own madder from a plant that I bought at woolfest from fiery felts. I have tended the plants carefully and as they matured started to harvest the roots. Here is my madder bed looking a bit weedy in the snow. So far using these madder roots I have only been able to achieve peachy reds which I find a bit frustrating. I thought I’d try again. First I read up about the factors which affect the colour extraction process for madder. I reread "Wild Color" by Jenny Dean along with the pages about madder on the website of the wild colours company. I also checked the history of dyeing with madder in the wonderful book "Natural Dye" by Dominique Cardon. What a lot of options there are. True red was the desired red colour to be obtained from madder…