Abstract:
This dissertation reports a project aimed at extracting a natural dye from vitellaria paradoxa
and production of different shades on cotton fabric using single and combination Mordants
where two mordants are combined in quartile proportions. Aqueous extraction was used to
obtain a crude dye solution from fresh, dried and pulverized stem bark which was
immediately used for dyeing using the simultaneous mordanting technique. Mordants used in
this study included ferrous sulphate, alum and potassium dichromate. The shades developed
were then assessed for color fastness to determine their usability.
The results revealed that the natural dye from vitellaria paradoxa is a monogenetic dye
giving a variety of soft, dark and light shades of pink and warm grey with alum, ferrous
sulphate, potassium dichromate and their combinations.
Fastness grades for single mordants were found to be good to excellent with the exception of
those mordanted with ferrous sulphate that tended to score a little lowly. Combining Alum
and ferrous sulphate generally improved the fastness rating of the samples except for two
samples i.e. 1:3 in light fastness and 3: 1 in wet rub fastness. Combination of Alum and
Dichromate produced grades that were good to very good except for 1:1 and 3: 1 in wet rub
fastness. Combining Ferrous sulphate and Dichromate also rated good to very good, however,
the impact of ferrous sulphate is clearly seen as the results tend to deteriorate as the
proportion of ferrous sulphate increases in the bath.
The shades developed therefore were conclusively useable though efforts should be made
towards standardization of all dyeing and extracting parameters for vitellaria paradoxa and
isolation and purification of the active coloring component in vitellaria paradoxa which I
believe would be a further advancement towards the commercialization of the natural dye and
indeed, natural dyeing _in Uganda’s textile industry.
