Dyeing: Waterless Dyeing?

[wheat]

[Fiber Passion]

Wheat , now that is an interesting article. I know it takes a lot of water for us home dyers so I can imagine the amounts of water for commercial dyeing, and the disposal of those dyes ,WOW. I see it being a very concerned problem. On a very small scale I'm looking into saving rain water, it would be good to use. Then someday no water, the CO2 technique. I do hope they don't mess with our baths and showers tho ; ) Thanks for sharing , helps to be informed of the challenges ahead.

[Guest]

Wheat, this article is very important for chemical dyes. What we dump into our water usually ends up recycled in our tap water (bathing and drinking) unfortunately! This seems to me another good reason for moving to natural dyes. They are renewable resources, and they (generally) use mordants and extracts that are natural parts of our earth. I’ve been using natural dyes for several years now, and have noticed that they seem to use less water than, say acid dyes. Less rinsing is necessary to clear, in my experience. I’d be interested to hear from any other natural dyers that feel as I do. Safer, less waste, and healthier both for the wearer and environment? What say others out there?

[wheat]

I am not sure the mordants are any less toxic but have not studied the chemistry enough to feel comfortable saying either mid handled is better or worse - sounds like an excellent study topic for fiber / dye forum topics