Profitable
use of natural dyes
We would like to talk on
one of these profitable and useful levels, i.e. regarding some vitally
important issues such as how profitable it would be for our population
to dye wool and silk fibers with natural dyeing plants to weave by them
carpets and sell them.
In recent years the new
methods on dyeing the wool and silk fibers with the natural plants have
been worked out. As a result of their implementation into the carpet
industry, they have been compared with the previous artificial, chemical
dyeing methods, thus revealing the positive and negative effects of the
latter.
Consequently, the advantage of dyeing with the natural
products compared to the artificial and chemical ones have been proved
safe with the exact facts.
The Almighty provided us with natural wealth of plants,
especially the dyeing ones, within the boundaries of the mountains and
steppes, deserts and forest lands of our beloved land. So our
responsibility is to take care of those resources and use them
carefully. We have
to use these plants in the carpet production and make profits for
ourselves and also assist to the next generation in earning a living.
For this reason we should avoid some of our old habits and should not
allow any kind of carelessness.
Let’s
have a look at the exact data. Even a few years ago we used to throw the
rind of the fruits like nut and pomegranate trees, peels of the grapes
and onions shells to the dust-bins, the contents of which are full of
the valuable dyeing resources.
We
cannot afford that any more. We should dry them in the shade, thresh them and
be able to use them accurately in working out of the sheepskin and in
dyeing wool fibers. We worked out the specific methods of dyeing wool
and silk fibers.
The so-called “Japanese
sophora” is the tree that gives good results in dyeing wool and silk
fibers. In Turkmenistan this tree is planted as a decorative tree in the
populated areas, cities, parks and by the roads. Its flowers and fruits
serve as a dye, especially its flowers give beautiful and flamboyant
color shades. The residents
of Ashgabat are quite familiar with this tree as it blooms in the middle
of June and blooming continues till the end of June.
Before there was probably
no one who would see the bright and yellow flower lying under the feet
in the streets and parks in different light.
The city cleaning staff
used to throw them into the dust places full of many litter bins. We
found the ways of picking them carefully onto the clean fabrics and
dyeing the silk fibers with them. The fiber dyed by this flower is the
inexpensive one, costs almost nothing but the picking and dyeing
expenses are there to consider. Besides,
the flowers of this tree increase the dyeing characteristics of the
other plants as well, if combined.
We
should also mention that its flower serves as a raw material in
preparing the expensive medicines. Similar to it, the flowers of sandal
tree give good colors too.
In
autumn, the leaves of the mulberry tree, grape, hazelnuts, nuts, apple,
wild rose and the other dyeing plants begin to rot after they fall down.
In
their time our ancestors could take the high quality, stable dyes from
them and dye the fibers for the carpet and weave the world famous
Turkmen rugs.
Our
research has completely proved it. If the work on picking the leaves of
those trees was carried out before the autumn, they would become fully
developed. After drying them in the shade, threshing and dyeing wool with
them and silk fibers are done properly, the beautiful and stable color
shades can be obtained.
To the
number of the expensive dyeing plants, the desert plants like
“chogan”, “sozen”, “yshgyn”, “saxaul”, “cherkez”,
and other plants can be added as well. Beautiful, stable, long lasting
color shades can be produced from them for the use in the carpet
weaving.
There are many similar examples to mention. The city
cleaning staff used to cut out the roots of the so called burr plants which disturb to the communication and electric cables along the road,
even the old roots of the plant have been cut out this way. In the
villages the roots of the mulberry trees are also cut out. They are used
to make fire or for the other purposes. Now we worked out the ways of
getting the most beautiful colors from the trunks of the burr and
mulberry trees. Even the modern artificial chemical colors cannot give
the beautiful colors that they make. With these dyeing means (facilities)
to dye the fiber is easy and cheap.
As
mentioned above, new ways of dyeing the wool and silk with the natural
dyes are fairly cheap compared to the artificial, chemical dyes. We can
prove it by the specially conducted research. While
working with the natural dyes, let’s say when dyeing 1 kg of fiber,
directly spent expenses include the preparation of the dyeing products,
expenses on drying and threshing them, the expenses on washing and
dyeing, and the expenses on the very process of dyeing. The
total sum of the expenses compared to the total sum of the expenses on
working with the artificial and chemical dyes, i.e. buying the
artificial, chemical, color changing chemical elements and the process
of dyeing with those substances, is much less expensive.
