Extraction and Application of Plant Dyes to Serve as Colourants for Food and Textiles
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Date
2010-07-13
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Abstract
Synthetic or chemical food dyes are used locally to colour pastries, beef, and pig feet among others which has consequential health implications. Synthetic fabric dyes used in teaching and learning of textiles are also expensive and often inaccessible to some schools for lack of funds to purchase them, hence the need to plant dyes for use as alternative colourant for food and textiles. The study based on qualitative research method employed interviews, observation and experimentation to study thirty (30) different local plants under art studio conditions. The dye extraction process involved the use of the bark, leaves, seeds, whole fruits, and roots of the different plants, each of which was boiled for 30 minutes. Among the plant samples studied, only three did not yield dyes that could successfully colour fabric while the other 27 yielded colourful dyes that could be used to teach basic skills in tie-dye, batik, printing, dyeing of yarns for macramé, and crocheting without the use of mordants. Using lime juice, baking powder and alum as mordants either enhanced or slightly changed the colour of dyes obtained. Dyes obtained from Prekese (Tetrapleura tetraptera), Widie aba (Momodora myristica), and Hwentea (Xyanlopia aethiopicum) which are known spices were too weak to stain the test fabric but found useful in flavouring for drinks made from Hibiscus Sabdariffa, Tefashia, Sorghum bicolour and Samia plants. Boiling yam, rice and spaghetti in Tefashia dye solutions gave the three a rich golden colour as if they were cooked with curry powder. Though Sorghum bicolour proved unsuitable for spaghetti, it was a good colourant for rice while Hibiscus Sabdariffa was found most suitable for drinks. The results suggest that very aesthetically pleasing colourants can be derived from the local environment for use as instructional resource for the teaching and learning of colouring techniques in Visual Arts and Home Economics and as suitable organic replacements for the chemical colourants used in the food industry.
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A Thesis submitted to the School of Graduate Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY IN ART EDUCATION, 2010.