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Textile & colour

Dyeing, colour science and shade matching for textile people.

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Shadecard demo reading for a navy swatch: fused Lab, shot agreement, nearest shade Navy and a yellow-red-blue ratio bar at 3% owf
Textile & colour Shadecard

What is trichromatic dyeing? Yellow, red and blue explained

Trichromatic dyeing builds a shade from three compatible dyes – a yellow, a red and a blue. The ratio sets the hue, the total depth (% owf) sets how dark, and a lab dip confirms.

5 min read
Shadecard shade page for Olive with hex and L*a*b* values, the ISCC-NBS designation Moderate Olive, a Y:R:B starting recipe and visually similar shades
Textile & colour Shadecard

Shade cards and colour naming systems in textiles

A shade card is a set of colour samples used to specify colour. Names like "olive" are ambiguous; systems such as Munsell, ISCC-NBS and CIELAB tie a name or code to a position.

5 min read
Shadecard recipe calculator showing salt 50 g/L and soda ash 15 g/L, and a result of 100 g salt and 30 g soda ash for a 2 litre bath
Textile & colour Shadecard

Reactive dyeing basics: why salt and soda ash (and how to stay safe)

In reactive dyeing of cotton, salt pushes the dye onto the fibre (exhaustion) and soda ash raises the pH so the dye bonds to it (fixation). Unfixed dye must be washed off.

5 min read