ALCHEMY - YELLOW WELD LAKE

                        Weld Dye/Lake
            By Lady Symonne de la Croix
                             29.3.20


20gm Weld (dried and crushed)
2lt Demineralised Water (pH 6.8)
1tsp Calcium Carbonate (chalk,eggshells)
20gm Soda (sodium carbonate)
20gm Alum (potassium aluminum sulfate)

Soak the dry weld overnight 

Heat for 1-2hrs
It wasn't turning yellow so I added 1tsp of crushed egg shells (as I couldn't find my chalk and they are both calcium carbonate.)
Still couldn't see a difference so I left it overnight again.

I did some more research that led me to add 20gm of soda which went yellow instantly, so I probably didn't need to wait overnight. (pH 10)


I reheated the weld dye bath then sieved it through cloth. Linen would have been used in medieval times as it was cheaper than cotton

.

Then I added 20gm Alum dissolved in cup of hot water which frothed nicely (pH 8)



I decided on a side experiment:



I didnt like that the pH had only dropped to 8 so I thought I would add 10gm more alum solution into one of the containers. (pH 6.3)
There was a lot more froth that stayed frothy (the first time it was easy to beat it back) I am hoping for a better precipitation of the pigment. 


Next steps are to let the mix settle, pour off the top water and discard (I used a turkey baster to extract the water) add more water, mix and let it settle again, repeat until the top water is clear.

Followed by sieving through coffee filters to get the pigment then drying it.

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