Rainbow Reverie: Orange

Installment 2 is here and today we're covering the color Orange! This is going to be a short entry, with some notes for the future.

I've tested two successful orange dyestuffs: Paprika and Sandalwood, both of which can be used to produce other colors. However, since this is the entry on Orange, we'll focus on preparing those dyes to create... well, orange.

Paprika Dye Test

Paprika: In order to produce a strong orange, you will need a lot of paprika diluted with just enough alcohol to make it a spreadable paste. You want it clumpy and full of paprika. Unlike the powdery sandalwood and turmeric, paprika is gritty and granular. It won't dissolve into the alcohol. That's alright, it will produce an absolutely brilliant orange if you use it in the grainy, paste-like form. Exposure times are pretty good, 3-5 days or so. Be sure to let the paper dry fully, then just take a paper towel or your finger and wipe off the excess paprika so you have a smooth surface to print on.

Sandalwood Dye Test

Sandalwood: This is a really easy dye to work with, and very flexible. As already noted in the Red section, if you use only a small amount of alcohol to dilute sandalwood powder it will create deep rusty, red-orange shade. Using more alcohol lowers the intensity, giving you a range from salmon pink-orange down to a pale gold-orange. Sandalwood can also be softened with a bit of turmeric to create more golden, yellow-orange shades. No matter how you prepare it, the exposure times are very fast. Expect 3 days to give a good result, with times decreasing down to 1 or 2 days if diluted with strong enough alcohol dilution.
I do suggest diluting sandalwood a good bit, or breaking its color up with another dye such as turmeric or red wine. By itself, at high concentrations, the color produced is so strong and vibrant that the resulting prints are actually hard to see. You get better contrast if the color starts out weaker.

Carrots: I tried shredding carrots and using the result to create a dye. It certainly produced a thick, bright orange liquid, but it was useless. When applied to paper, the carrot juice didn't leave more than the faintest stain. Even soaking paper in the juice didn't provide a noticeable color. Tried it with fabric, too, and still no results. Conclusion: carrots are good to eat, not to use for dye.

Annatto: Some folks that I've corresponded with on Flickr and AlternativePhotography.com have used annatto, which is a south american spice, and gotten good oranges. I just recently ordered some (it hasn't arrived yet), and will be testing it out myself. According to other artists, the spice is diluted in alcohol or water just like sandalwood or turmeric, and takes 3-5 days to expose. It produces soft, vibrant oranges that are a bit easier on the eyes than pure Sandalwood.
UPDATE: My annatto arrived very quickly, and I set to work testing it out. I purchased a powdered extract version of the plant, not the whole anise seeds. Diluted with alcohol, the annatto powder does as expected and produces a variety of oranges from a bright tangerine to a soft pastel. The powder leaves a bit more debris than sandalwood, but can be coffee-filtered so long as you don't mind losing a lot of the vibrancy. Otherwise, just wipe off the dust when your paper is dry.




Tune in again soon for YELLOW: the Happy Color!