Part one · Before pigment

Colour that grew in the field

In many traditional Indian printing processes, colour was developed through a sequence of treatments rather than applied as a ready-made coloured paste. A printer could stamp a mordant—often a metal salt such as alum—onto selected areas, then immerse the cloth in a dye bath. The mordant helped the dye bond to the fibre and influenced the resulting shade. Other methods used resist pastes to keep parts of the cloth from taking up dye. The exact sequence varied by region, dye and design. [1]

A traditional printing sequence: prepare and clean the cloth, apply tannin or mordant where required, print mordants or resists, dye, then wash and dry. The order and number of stages vary by technique. Washing and dyeing can use substantial amounts of water, making access to water an important practical consideration for textile-processing communities. [1]

Part two · How it changed

A long history in six stops

1. Medieval period

   Dye

   Indian prints reach Egypt

   Indian cotton textiles made with block printing, mordant dyeing and resist techniques survive among finds from Fustat, near Old Cairo. Gujarat-made examples in museum collections date to the 13th–14th centuries, while written records point to trade between Gujarat and Egypt as early as the 10th century. [2]

2. 17th–18th c.

   Dye

   Indian printed cottons travel widely

   Indian painted and printed cottons became highly sought-after in global trade. The histories of particular regional centres, including Sanganer and Bagru, should be treated separately rather than assigned a single origin date.

3. 1856

   Synthetic

   Mauveine changes dye-making

   William Henry Perkin discovered mauveine while experimenting with coal-tar derivatives. It became the first commercially successful synthetic organic dye and helped launch a new industry. [3]

4. 1869 onward

   Synthetic

   Natural dyes gain synthetic counterparts

   Synthetic alizarin, developed in the late 1860s, offered an industrial alternative to madder. Synthetic indigo later transformed the global indigo trade. These changes affected the economics and availability of colour, though adoption varied by place and textile practice. [4]

5. Modern era

   Pigment

   Pigments need a binder

   Unlike dyes, textile pigments do not dissolve into or bond directly with cotton in the same way. A binder forms a film that holds pigment particles on the fabric. The history of pigment-printing binders is technically complex, so this article does not assign a single invention date.

6. Today

   Pigment

   Two approaches, different strengths

   Modern pigment printing can offer a broad palette and avoid the large dye baths and post-print washing used in many dye processes. It still requires a suitable binder and correct curing. Natural-dye printing remains an active craft, not simply a stage left behind.

Part three · Dye vs pigment

One goes in, the other sits on top

In textile printing, a dye is a colorant that can interact with the fibre at a molecular level. A pigment is an insoluble coloured particle that generally has little affinity for cotton on its own. A polymer binder forms a film that anchors the pigment to the fabric. The precise feel and fastness depend on the pigment, binder, fabric and curing conditions. [5]

Part four · Primer

What is in the bowl

A pigment print paste must carry the colour, have a workable consistency, adhere to the fabric and achieve the required wash and rub fastness. Formulations vary: a paste may contain pigment dispersion, binder, thickener and other auxiliaries, but not every product uses the same ingredients. [5]

Try it

Add pigment to 100 ml of binder

Pick a pigment and move the slider to explore an illustrative tint curve. The colour changes are generated by a simplified screen model, not measured from actual pigment samples. Real mixtures depend on pigment strength, concentration, binder opacity, fabric and curing. Wet paste can look different from the cured print, but the direction and size of that change are product-dependent.

Screen colours are a guide. Always test on a scrap of the same cloth and let it dry before judging.

Primer · The method

Mixing a colour, step by step

1. Measure the binder first

   Start with a known amount of white base, say 100 ml. Every recipe is written per 100 ml so it scales cleanly.

2. Add the main pigment a little at a time

   Use a syringe or dropper. You can always add more. You cannot take it out.

3. Mix until there are no streaks

   Stir and fold for a full minute. Streaks in the bowl become streaks on the cloth.

4. Adjust with small touches

   Shift the hue with a neighbour colour. Mute it with its opposite, or with a drop of brown or black.

5. Test, dry, then judge

   Print a sample on the same fabric and let it dry and cure fully. Judge the actual swatch rather than assuming the dry colour will always be darker.

6. Print, then cure as specified

   Follow the technical data sheet for the exact binder, including drying, curing temperature and time. Do not assume a household iron is sufficient. Test wash and rub fastness on a sample before production. [5]

7. Write it down

   Note every millilitre. A colour you can't repeat is a colour you will have to find again.

From the Creatis colour sheet

Real recipes, per 100 ml of binder

These example ratios are taken from the Creatis calibration sheet behind Match and normalised by the page to 100 ml of binder. They are studio-specific starting points, not universal formulations or independently verified recipes. Confirm pigment concentration and binder compatibility, then test the result on the actual fabric.

Rules of thumb

What the print table teaches

Further reading

Sources and notes

The historical sections draw on museum research and scholarly accounts of Indian printed textiles and synthetic dyes. The technical guidance on modern pigment printing is general; the correct process for a particular print paste must come from its manufacturer’s technical data sheet.

1. [1]

   Yael Rosenfield, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

   Indian Block-Printed Textiles: Past and Present — traditional preparation, mordant and resist methods, and surviving Indian textile practices.

2. [2]

   Ayesha U. Shaikh, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (2023)

   Made in India, Found in Egypt: Red Sea Textile Trade in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries — Gujarat textiles, Fustat finds and evidence for trade.

3. [3]

   Scientific Reports (2017)

   Reconstructing the historical synthesis of mauveine from Perkin and Caro — the 1856 discovery and significance of mauveine.

4. [4]

   British Journal for the History of Science

   The British chemical industry and the indigo trade — synthetic alizarin, synthetic indigo and changes in the dye trade.

5. [5]

   Flychem Industries, technical overview

   Textile pigment printing: binder, thickener and cure — general pigment-paste components and curing considerations. For production, consult the specific binder supplier’s technical data sheet.

The colour mixer is an educational visualisation, not a calibrated chemical model. The Creatis recipes are internal calibration examples and should be validated on the intended fabric and materials.