Cochineal gives a gorgeous hot pink or bright color purple. It’s really simple and only takes a bit of time. Here is a quick tutorial to try it for yourself!
As some of you may know, I’ve got an Etsy store where I sell all sorts of natural dyed textiles. I love taking custom orders and was asked to create a brick red/maroon color. This is not that. BUT it gave me a gorgeous color while I was trying to experiment!
I always share my new experiments on my insta-stories and I have never received a reaction like the on I got when I post this finished product. I’m excited to share how I got it!
What you Need to Dye with Cochineal
- Cochineal
- Cotton fabric (or linen or silk. Must be a natural made fabric! Nylon and polyester won’t take the color as well)
- Alum powder
- Food Scale
- Stainless Steel Pot
- Bucket
I broke out all my must haves for dyeing here!
This dyeing process is a little different than most in that you will want to let your cochineal sitting in the water as long as possible. Boil some water and pour it on top of 10 grams of cochineal in a container only used for dyeing.
I put a lid over this to keep the heat in as much as I could.
The first thing you need to do with your cloth is prewash your fabric. I use just regular detergent on a regular cycle and also like to tumble dry them. When you purchase fabric or clothes from a store they are often coated and won’t take the color as well until they are washed.
Then you will create an alum bath. I broke out how to do a full alum bath for you here.
Once your fabric is washed and mordanted (that’s what it’s called after the alum bath!), you are ready to dye! I like to fold my fabrics because that’s simpler than trying to get an even color of dye. Plus, tie dyeing is so fun!
Boil some water in your stainless steel pot and pour in the cochineal solution that ahs been sitting overnight (or longer!)
I keep the heat up for about another 30 minutes (medium heat) after putting my cloth in, then turn it all the way off.
Let this sit with the heat off as long as you’d like. The longer the better! But probably not more than 2 days. You won’t want to wait that long anyway!
Once you are done you can do an iron bath to make a deeper color or leave it as a hot purple color! I did one of each so you could see the differences. (Iron bath tutorial here!)
