Abstract


Dyeing condition for Pashmina wool yarn usingnatural colourant from cochineal was characterized for dye bath exhaustion, K/Svalue and fastness properties. It is observed that cochineal dye exhaustedbetter at 50-60oC in 120-150 minutes than other conditions. The colourant wasexhausted between 80 and 95% with K/S value ranging from 0.526 to 0.816 withvery good washing (4-5) and light fastness (6-7) at standard condition.


Keywords


Cochineal, Dye bathexhaustion, Fastness, K/S value, Pashmina


Introduction


Pashmina wool, a finest speciality hair fiber isgenerally used for production of superior quality shawl and stole. In fashionworld at national and international levels, its products have great demand dueto its fibre fineness (10-14m), firmness, warmth, durability, lightness andsoftness. Generally the aesthetic value of Pashmina products could be improvedby application of natural dye extracted from locally available vegetablesources. Even though the vegetable dyes give various colours on Pashminamaterials, the local dyers are still pursuing some fashionable colours likepurple, pale lilac to a deep violet, shade of prune and some pale shades. Here,Cochineal, an insect dye was used to dye natural textiles in particularlypurple and scarlet red colour. The literature on application of cochineal onPashmina wool was scanty. The present study aims to standardize the dyeingcondition of a natural dye extracted from an insect called cochineal onPashmina woolen yarn.


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Originally published in Journal of the TextileAssociation, July-Aug 2011.


About the authors


P. Temani & D. B. Shakyawar are associated with Division of Textile Manufacture and TextileChemistry, Central Sheep and Wool Research Institute, Avikanagar, Jaipur, L. Ammayappan is associated with Mechanical Processing Division, NIRJAFT, Kolkata, V. Goyal is associated with Departmentof Chemistry, International College for Girls, Jaipur & S. A. Wani is associated with Division of LPT, SKUAST, Shuhuma, Srinagar.