Natural Burnt Sienna Color Using Barberry

[tbeck3579]

I'm so excited -- finally a natural color that isn't yellow, orange or green. I've been experimenting with everything I can find on the farm. The barberry bushes have berries right now, no leaves just berries. The birds eat them throughout the winter so I grabbed some before the easy-to-reach ones were gone. The bushes have nasty thorns. Anyway, did a test batch a short while ago. I should have taken a pick of the bar before I covered it but I didn't. Here's a pick of the color on a paper towel -- bottom of screen is the color of lye water with barberry, and the paper towel with the spoon is the color of the soap. I sure hope it stays that color.

 

[CaraBou]

I hope so too -- that's a great color! Keep us updated with pics.

 

[dibbles]

I hope so too -- that's a great color! Keep us updated with pics.

Ditto! I haven't done much of anything with natural colorants yet, but love seeing what people come up with!

 

[tbeck3579]

Here is a picture of the color (heart). The round bar is black walnut, highly concentrated. I don't recommend black walnut in high concentrations; it bleeds. It appears the barberry is color fast. I only made 2 bars to test my color -- I do a lot of different botanical tests at the same time. I'll try the barberry again using different concentrations. Another thing I noticed when putting the barberry in the lye water, it didn't smell bad. Most of the botanicals stink when I add them to the lye so that was a pleasant surprise.

 

[CaraBou]

Ooh, that is really a rich, beautiful color! By jove I think you're on to something!