American Safflower Dye

Botanical name: Carthamus tinctorius

Common name: Safflower is also referred to as False Saffron and Bastard Saffron.

Colorant: Carthamin (red) and Carthamidin (yellow)

Dye type: Adjective dye (often needs to have mordants to make it more resistant)

Shade Range: Yellow and red. Yellow is easily extracted but red known as carthamin is relatively difficult to extract. It can be faint pink or even deep red because of the technique used.

Mordant Requirements: Usually, safflower is applied directly to give pinks and reds on plant based fibers without the use of any mordant. But when combined with a mordant, such as alum, yellows are produced on protein fibers.​

Fastness: The red dye is not very light fast and one might lose it after some time due to fading but the yellow dye is well light and wash fastness.

Common Uses: Used for textile dyeing purpose safflower is also used in food and cosmetic industrial products. Used to make natural red and pink colors particularly when using the cotton fabric.

Country of Origin: Mediterranean, Egypt and Mesopotamian regions.

Vegetarian product: Yes