When I came back from my residency in Oaxaca I made sure to bring back some of the materials so that I could recreate the experiments I liked best. Red has been very elusive for me as I’ve tried to varioud natural dyes to achieve the red I’ve been searching for. While in Oaxaca we made a couple. Cochineal, obviously, but that one makes a more fuschia color than a red, too pink/ purple. But the Palo de Brasil (Mexican Logwood) made a nice true red. So I bought a bunch to bring home. So here’s how to make red powdered pigment with Palo de Brasil.

This recipe is for all colors, and is to make a very small amount, with few tweaks depending on the plant being used. It is easily scaleable.

Palo de Brasil:
50g of palo de Brasil

8g of alum (16% of the weight of your plant matter)

4g of sodium bicarbonate (8% of the weight of your plant matter) (baking soda also works, also soda ash, but I have not yet tried soda ash, so I can’t give much help about the specifics)

water

Tools:

pot

strainers

filters or fabric to use as filter

stove

food scale (to weigh materials)

mortar and pestle

fine mesh sieve (could use a screen printing screen or something similar)

small bowls or measuring cups

paint muller and slab (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

Put palo de Brasil in pot, cover with water (water should be about 1cm above plant matter)
Bring to rapid boil, then reduce heat. Simmer for 40 minutes
Strain, and return plant matter to pot. Cover with water so water is about level with water, or just a little above.

4. Strain into the liquid from first extraction.

5. Remove all the debris of the plant matter. It can be saved for additional extractions (1-3 more), or you can repeat the process immediately for this batch 1-3 more times. (Or until you feel there’s no more color coming out)

6. Pour the extraction liquid back into pot, and simmer for 10 min, or until the liquid is reduced by about half.

7. In the meantime, heat 50mL of water. Measure out the alum, if it’s solid in rock form, grind to a fine powder with your mortar and pestle. Pour the hot water over the alum and dissolve the alum completely.

8. Repeat step 7 with the sodium bicarbonate, in a separate bowl.

9. Once the palo de Brasil liquid is reduced, remove from heat.

10. Stir in the alum.

11. Slowly pour in the sodium bicarbonate. Your vessel needs to be a bit larger than the liquid, because this will cause a foaming chemical reaction. Gently mix thoroughly.

12. Allow to sit a few minutes. Meanwhile prep your filter. You’ll need something to keep your filter from inside the strained liquid. Can be a funnel holder, can be a strainer with feet, can sit suspended above your vessel, whatever you gotta do. I like to use fabric, because there’s so much color that gets left in the filter, and if I use fabric, then I can use it later for different projects.

13. Once the liquid is strained (this can take minutes, hours, or sometimes even days) the remaining sediment should look almost like a paste. Like jelly beginning to set. Move your filter to lay flat so that it can dry. I put my filters over a baking cooling rack, or even inside two screen printing screens (this allow for air flow, but keeps it clean). Allow to dry completely.

**The remaining liquid can still be used, either as a liquid pigment for paper or fibers. If used for dye, understand the color will be muted as it has been exhausted of most of it’s liquid. But you can extract more color from the saved plant matter. It will still be exhausted, and therefore a lighter color, but will still produce colors.

14. Once dry move the dry pigment to the mortar and pestle. This part takes a while. You’re goign to grind until it’s EXTREMELY fine. Once you think it’s fine, do it again. Then do it again, and again, and again, and probably again. (The powder needs to be fine so that it can a) mix with the print base and b) fit through the screen when you print.)

15. You’ll know it’s fine enough when it can be sifted through the mesh of your silkscreen. And that’s what you’re going to do. Shift it all through the mesh of your screen. Anything that remains, grind it again. And continue this process until it’s all through the screen.

Then you’re done!!!!

To use:

Mix a desired a mount of powdered pigment with a very small amount of water, to make a paste. You can do this in a mortar and pestle or use a paint muller and slab. Slowly mix into your screen printing base. Adding additional pigment until your desired color is achieved.

I also like to take samples of the various steps, so that I can see how the color changes. This is useful if you decide you want to modify the colors to get different variations. It gives you a base level of what happens when different things are introduced.

Making Red: Palo de Brasil (Brazilwood/ Mexican Logwood)