Natural dyeing of silk with the nut extract of Areca catechu

Natural dye extracted from the nuts of Areca catechu grown abundantly in India, is utilized for coloration of silk fabric. Different mordants at varying concentrations were used on silk for pre-mordanting to study their effect on the colour value and fastness properties of the dyed samples. Silk fabrics were also dyed with different mordanting techniques using lowest concentration of mordants. Colour values with respect to K/S, L* a* b* and fastness properties were found to be influenced by the type of mordant and technique of mordanting with very low concentrations of the mordant.