Investigation of herbal dyes from Symplocos racemosa (Lodh) leaves and optimization of procedure for dyeing using synthetic mordants

Abstract

The present study deals with the soaked and woven wool fabrics that were dyed with natural dyes extracted from the leaves of Symplocos racemosa (Lodh). The optimization was carried out with different conditions like concentration of dye material, time for extraction of dye, dyeing time and concentration of mordants. Out of the three methods of mordanting, the best shades for lodh leaf dye were obtained using post-mordanting with ferrous sulphate and stannous chloride and simultaneous mordanting with copper sulphate and potassium dichromate. Poor results were observed in the case of pre-mordanting. The colour fastness analysis indicated the light-coloured samples were affected more rapidly as compared to the dark ones. In this study, the lodh leaf dyed samples exhibited fairly good to excellent fastness to light in the case of ferrous sulphate and stannous chloride while good to good in both copper sulphate and potassium dichromate respectively and the results of washing fastness analysis revealed that lodh leaf dyed samples had good to excellent fastness to washing.