Multiple re-cycled dyeing of silk with de-oiled red sandalwood waste using different mordants to achieve dark shades and improved colour fastness.

Most natural dyes are costly and thus have to be used in huge quantities to get an appreciable depth of shade. Moreover in general, the fastness properties of most natural dyes are also poor. Thus, degummed mulberry silk fabric has been premordanted with different bio and metallic mordants, in various concentrations, and then dyed with different concentrations of aqueous extract of red sandalwood by the exhaust method. Additionally, dyeing in two or three consecutive dyeing cycles with smaller portions of the same amount of total dye concentration being used in each dyeing cycle has also been carried out. The paper discusses the results of these trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]