Dear marinibug-ga;
Thank you for allowing me an opportunity to answer your interesting question.
Dyes come from all sorts of places; some of them more bizarre than
others. Much of the dye used on today?s market is synthetic but some
dyes still come from plants, nuts, fruit and other sources, some of
which you can even do yourself:
EHOW
How to extract dye from nuts
http://www.ehow.com/how_8843_extract-dye-nuts.html
EHOW
How to extract dye from fruit
http://www.ehow.com/how_8841_extract-dye-fruit.html
EHOW
How to extract dye from tea or coffee
http://www.ehow.com/how_8844_extract-dye-coffee.html
EHOW
How to create natural dyes for wool
http://www.ehow.com/how_975_create-natural-dyes.html
EHOW
How to extract natural dyes
http://www.ehow.com/how_8588_extract-natural-dyes.html
EHOW
How to extract dye from leaves or grass
http://www.ehow.com/how_8838_extract-dye-leaves.html
Essentially, anything that can stain can be a source for dye.
Originally, one source for blue dye was a plant called ?indigo?. It is
still in use today but only in limited quantity. In the 1800?s one
European method was to soak indigo in urine to extract the dye. As you
can imagine this was a nasty process. When chemists develop methods of
copying the process and the chemical properties that made indigo dye,
the old methods using the original plant sort of waned (and gleefully
so, I would imagine).
WIKIPEDIA: INDIGO DYE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigo_dye
Nowadays of course there are a host of natural and chemical sources
for industrial and commercial dyes:
WIKIPEDIA: DYES
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Dyes
Today, synthetically made optical brighteners and other additives are
designed to enhance the appearance of colors in fabrics and papers,
etc. Reactive dyes are also used in natural and synthetic textiles
like fabrics and paint (because of the way it affects a canvas or
medium) that produce various colors depending on what other acids and
compounds are mixed with it at the time it contacts certain fibers.
More complex solutions or compounds are added to the product and other
additives to make the colors ?fast? ? a term in the dying industry
that signifies permanence and durability.
FIBER REACTIVE ADDITIONS ENRICH ARTISTS' PALETTE
http://www.straw.com/tan/tan_fiberreactives.html
(This is kind of ?heady? but it?s extremely interesting, especially if
you already have some working knowledge of chemistry)
Synthetic dyes and pigments are the source of virtually all dyes today
and the industry that manufactures these dyes is a multibillion-dollar
effort. The industry's target products include almost everything of
color on today?s market ranging from chemical (including paints &
coatings, cosmetics, printing inks, all forms of plastics) to paper,
textiles, fibers, leather and automotive industries. The bottom line
is that if it can be colored the color used to dye it almost
invariably came from a laboratory somewhere (with the exception of
course of some custom or hand made items perhaps which make up a
relatively insignificant portion of the overall market).
SYNTHETIC DYE AND PIGMENT MANUFACTURING
http://www.textile-info.com/1733.htm
Many of these major players in the dye manufacturing and research and
development industry (as well as some of the supply, import and export
activities) are very familiar in most American households such as Dow
Chemical Company, CIBA-Geigy Corporation and DuPont. Others leaders in
the industry are located in India and China and remain virtually
?anonymous? to the average consumer.
DYE MANUFACTURERS/SUPPLIERS: CHINA
http://dye.manufacturers.alibaba.com/
DYE MANUFACTURERS/SUPPLIERS: INDIA
http://dir.indiamart.com/foreignexporters/dye.html
http://www.indianyellowpages.com/india/manufacturers/d/dyeing_dyes_dye_stuffs_and_intermediates.htm
I hope you find that my research exceeds your expectations. If you
have any questions about my research please post a clarification
request prior to rating the answer. Otherwise, I welcome your rating
and your final comments and I look forward to working with you again
in the near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.
Best regards;
Tutuzdad ? Google Answers Researcher
OTHER INFORMATION SOURCES
HISTORY OF DYES ? 2600BC to 20TH CENTURY
http://www.straw.com/sig/dyehist.html
DYE TECHNIQIES AND HISTORY
http://knitting.about.com/od/dyeinfo/
SEARCH STRATEGY
SEARCH ENGINES USED:
Google ://www.google.com
SEARCH TERMS USED:
DYE
HISTORY
INDUSTRY
MANUFACTURING
ORGANIC
SYNTHETIC
INGREDIENTS
ORIGIN
SOURCES
PIGMENT
PROCESS |
Clarification of Answer by
tutuzdad-ga
on
23 Jul 2005 19:19 PDT
We are not likely to run out of dyes due to an oil shortage. What a
synthetic dye is made of depends largely on what type of dye it is.
Some dyes are acid based and the coloration is dependent upon the
reaction the acid has with the surface being dyed. Other dyes contain
a significant presence of metals. Still other dyes are water based or
alcohol based and a certain number of dyes are also chemical based
(spirit based, phthalocyanine based, o-Dianisidine-Based, benzidine
based, o-Tolidine based, and of course this lists number in the
thousands). There are some petroleum-based dyes and petroleum-based
dye preservatives (BHT, BHA, TBHQ, etc) and if oil were to become rare
tomorrow I would imagine that these products might (theoretically)
also become quite expensive or unattainable. On the other hand, if
petroleum became a rare commodity tomorrow I suspect that our other
problems would be so overwhelming that our lack of petroleum based
dyes would probably go largely unnoticed.
Hope this helps.
Regards;
Tutuzdad-ga
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