Madder root, a rich red and more

Extracted pigments

Before I dipped into dyeing, using plants, I knew little about it. I even didn’t know which plants could produce a colour, let alone lasting colours. When I started looking into it, I became curious. Using a plant for dyeing is about using its full potential, appreciating the colour it produces and not wasting it. Also, very important is how to practice natural dyeing sustainably. Before synthetic colours were developed in late 19th Century, natural colours were used and produced on a large scale. That meant, a lot of technical knowledge was developed and itemized. I thought you might be curious as well and would like to know a little bit more about some plants I use in my artwork. This month I will talk about madder root.

Dyer’s madder (Rubia Tinctorium)
Rubia in Latin means red. Its cousin, wild madder (Rubia peregrina) is a common plant grown in meridional areas and is considered a weed. It can be found in the south of France. I will talk about the dyer’s madder which is generally used due to its thicker roots, thus is richer in dyes. Its roots must be at least three years old before use and it’s from the root that the colour comes. They are other varieties of madder in the world.

A little history

Since antiquity, madder root was used a great deal in India, the Middle East and Egypt. In Roman times, it was used a lot in painting and dyeing and therefore largely cultivated in France and around the Mediterranean. Originally the best red madder was produced in Turkey.  It was mainly produced in France, in the Perpignan area (1320) until the beginning of the 15th century. After a decline in production, it almost disappeared. It was revived in the Netherlands, where it was produced in large amounts. Starting in 1770 the madder production returned to the Provence, around Avignon, thanks to Jean Althen, an Armenian agronomist who developed it into an industry . Until 1869, the Provence produced  25 000 tons of madder powder with 50 madder windmills (Garancières). Madder was the only plant that could give sufficient root volumes for a large dyeing scale.

In 1869 German biochemists developed the alizarine synthesis, the main dye contained in madder root. As a result, in Germany, half of the sales revenue came from alizarine production. Consequently, in less than fifteen years madder production in France and Netherlands was ruined.  There is currently a revival in Turkey, the Netherlands and France.

BASF (Chemical Branch) was the first company to synthetise two dyes which were initially natural dyes, Alizarine present in madder root and indigo.

As a side note, I worked in BASF Lacke +Farbe in Germany for a few years in the 90’s. The company was developing colours for car companies. Little did I know then where I was headed. I was not in the lab but remember seeing the chemical engineers working on the different colours.

Cultivation and harvest

The stem can reach 1.50 m and has some little spurs which makes them stick to other plants and therefore grow higher. The roots can go as deep as 80 cm. They are harvested after, at least, three years of growth as the dye content is too weak until then. It is gown in light and deep soil. The harvest happens in autumn. After drying, it is then kept in fragments or in powder form, preserved away from humidity and improve with time.

 Composition

Madder root produces rich reds. It contains two principal dyes, alizarin & purpurin but also many other dyes. It belongs to the anthraquinones family. It is sensitive to acidity.

Extraction & dyeing

To extract the dye, madder powder should be heated slowly and maintained below 65C. If higher, the red can turn to brown due to its tannin content. PH bath, time and temperature impact the quality of the colour. For dyeing a fabric for ex., it should be slowly heated in the dye bath for a few hours, from cold to 30C and progressively to 80C.

Madder root produces a range of colours from pale pinks, orange to deep reds and brown. As I become more familiar with the dyeing processes, I am able now to obtain these different ranges of colours. I sometimes aim to get a peachy pink, which I really like. I have used madder root for dyeing cotton, linen and to print by either preparing a print paste for fabric or a print paste for paper. In this case, I will extract the pigments from the dye bath. You can obtain some terracotta, orange reds as well.

The madder powder I use comes from the Provence, the area where I initially did my natural dyeing and printing courses, in Couleurs Garance (see previous post). Garance is the French word for madder.

I hope this gives you an overview of this amazing plant. This is by no means a full description or history of the madder root. If you are interested in learning more, I would recommend two books, one from Elisabeth Dumont, a French biochemist and researcher who wrote on natural inks and natural dyeing ‘Encres de plantes’ and also the book ‘Guide des teintures naturelles’ from Marie Marquet, a French archaeologist, natural dyer and ethnologist.

Any question or comment give me a shout. I ‘ll be happy to help if I can.

Fabienne