NATURAL DYEING WITH RED ONIONS

Our most recent experiment with natural dyes was with red onion skins. We know that onion skins produce a strong yellow, but wondered what the results would be with red onions.
I assume that these onions contain a pigment called anthocyanin which can also be found in red cabbage and beetroot. This assumption was proved correct with the resulting colour. The blue colour of anthocyanin mixed with the yellow pigment that also exists in regular onions provides a beautiful kharki. We have yet to try regular onions, but suspect that they will form the base of our next experiment.
The images below show both the boiling stage and finished results on a raw silk shawl.

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Thread Dyeing Advantages

This year saw Sorazora's introduction to thread dyeing. Previously we had been fabric dyeing with natural dyes, which lead to a small percentage of damaged material due to uneven colouring. Thread dyeing significantly reduces this kind of damage and produces a more even shade throughout the fabric after hand weaving. One other advantage is the effect gained through weaving different coloured threads within a single fabric. Our hemp cotton shawls, pictured below, illustrate the beauty of the various dyestuffs used.

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OPEN FOR 2010

Sorazora website is now open for business after my return from Nepal. The production for our 2010 collection is now underway and the new designs will be slowly uploaded from April. This year sees more use of nettle fibre as well as the usual natural fibres.

Felt has made a reappearance after our experimenting with natural dyes proved quite successful. The felting process requires alkaline soaps, which react strongly with natural dyes, and our attempts have showed signs of colour remaining after this process. For this year we have dyed felt after it has been processed, but our experiments have proved that natural dyed felt is a possibility with which we will explore more next year. All of the felt factories in Nepal use chemical dyes as natural dyes are prohibitively expensive and enjoy little demand from customers.

The above photo shows small felt balls in the colours we will be using this year. We are happy that we can now use felt again as we would like to support all the effort being made by the ladies at the factory we use. We would also like to thank Kiran-ji for all his help and support with natural dyes. His experience is invaluable and we share the same beliefs and working ethos.

Please check our online store as the products of many peoples' collective hard work will be uploaded through the course of April.

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PRODUCTION UPDATE

Sampling is almost complete and production will soon commence. Almost all of our natural dyed fabric is thread dyed before being hand woven. Weaving by hand produces up to 15 metres of fabric a day per person. Many people are involved in the production, starting with dyers through weavers to pattern cutters and finishers.
In a few days we will be taking finished samples to Chitwan National Park for our catalogue photoshoot. During this time production will be underway. We would like to thank all of the people involved in our production process for their continual support and would like all of our customers to be aware of all the people involved and their hardwork.

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Kathmandu's Pollution

The major deciding factor in our use of natural dyes is that no chemical pollutants are produced as a byproduct. The rivers of Kathmandu (Bagmati river shown above) are now so heavily polluted, not just from waste chemical dyes, but also human sewage and general garbage. Pictured below is a common scene of garbage in the street. At the time of taking the photograph, garbage collectors had been on a week's strike. A lot of infrastructure is required to start the slow process of cleaning, but it appears that the main hurdle is education and awareness. People in Kathmandu face many problems and challenges (made no easier by their ever failing government that is comprised of self serving politicians). I have faith that things will get better, but only after things get much worse.

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Textile Production

This year will see a slight change in our fabric production as we have chosen to natural dye the thread before being handwoven into fabric. This process takes a little more time than dyeing the finished fabric, but will provide a more even and fast colour.

The weather here in Kathmandu is fine and sunny with daytime temperatures reaching 23 degrees C, but with nighttime lows of 1 degree C.
Load shedding gives the city 9 hours a day without electricity and this is likely to increase to a possible 16 hours a day without power. Choosing to use handwoven fabric is a wise choice as only electrical lighting is effected by the power cuts. This problem can easily be overcome by the use of battery power. Tailoring factories have to rely on diesel generators to run their machines.

I will upload further news as we make continue to make progress with this year's production and look forward opening our online store for retail on the 8th March.

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2010 COLLECTION

We regret to announce that sorazora will be unable to process any orders from January 9th until March 9th. We apologise for any inconvenience and appreciate your understanding.


It is that time of year again when we will be heading to the warmth of the Himalayas to see through production of our designs. Kathmandu Valley offers impressive views of the Himalayas, but provides plenty of warm sunny days at this time of year. The tempurature difference between night and day is quite considerable and the lack of central heating should make for cold evenings, but overall it should provide a respite from the cold snap we are currently experiencing here in the UK.


We look forward to resuming business as usual after March the 9th and would once again like to wish everyone a happy and prosperous new year.