Similar to cochineal, but dyes lighter shades. This is not the extract, which is achieves a much more saturated color. When making a dye bath, making a paste is helpful as it's not as soluble as other dye stuff materials. You definitely need to make sure the dye stuff is filtered before adding fabric to pot. It’s a very sticky dye and impossible to clean from fiber if you don’t. Its shellac!
20-30% WOF to dye a medium crimson color and benefits to add an acid like citric acid prior to adding to dye pot. Use iron at 2-5% for purple.
Botanical Name: Kerria Lacca is a species of insect in the family Kerriidae, the lac insects. Lac dye was derived from the dried bodies of the East Indian insect, Dactylopins coccus. After the insect bodies had formed a thick gummy red coating on the twigs, the twigs were broken off and sun dried to kill the insects.
Lac dye is the scarlet pigment present in the live, pre-emergent insects (Laccifer Lacca/Kerria Lacca) which develop in a resinous cocoon, known as “stickler” It is widely known for secreting lac a commercially important scarlet substance that is used for dyeing wool and silk, and also used in cosmetic industry and medicinal drug. Kerria lacca insects inhabit trees in colonies of thousands and secrete the resinous substance. Kerria lacca excreta is used as lac dye. This is a natural red dye and is produce by washing the raw stick lac by water and then precipitating the filtered wash liquor with acid.
Interesting video of raising Lac insects here.
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