Colour gamut with easy sources of natural dyes

Purpose In nature, thousands of different colours and shades exist. Basic set of dyes, namely, yellow, red, blue and green are necessary for a complete colour gamut. Creating a complete gamut with natural dyes with one common extraction and application procedure is not exploited hitherto. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach In this study, an attempt was made to create a complete colour gamut with easily available natural dyes with one common extraction and application procedure. Findings Silk fabrics were dyed using various natural dyes alone and in combination to yield various shades, namely, yellow, red, green, blue. Pre-mordanting of silk fabrics was carried out with mordants, namely, alum, ferrous sulphate, copper sulphate, stannous chloride, potassium dichromate followed by dyeing. The fastness properties and colour strength values of all the shades obtained were determined. Originality/value Creating a complete gamut with natural dyes with one common extraction and application procedure is not exploited hitherto.