Many people turn to natural dyes because they are safe and nontoxic, so it is an important question to wonder whether the mordants that are used to fix the dyes are themselves safe.

All the mordants we sell and use are trace minerals needed by the body.  They are the same minerals included in any good mineral supplement.

Alum is the same as is sold in grocery stores for pickling. But I recommend that people never eat pickles with alum in them, that they also purchase alum-free baking powder, and do not use anti perspirants which deliver alum into the body via the skin.

The same applies to the tin, although it's not sold in stores, people who drink canned fruit juices get incredible qualtities from the tinned can. As for iron - this is the same stuff that's in Geritol and other cheap iron supplements. Unless you drank a concentrated solution, it's not going to be of any harm.

The most important thing is to use caution and minimize your exposure. It is important to always use rubber gloves when you are mordanting so nothing is absorbed through the skin of the hands. Additionally, make sure kids or pets do not accidently drink the solution (it doesn't taste good at all so they normally wouldn't).

It should be noted that in the distant past (200 years ago) many other minerals were used as mordants, especially in cotton printing.  None of these are used today.

For more details on handling Chrome mordant, which does require extra care, please read “The Problem of Chrome”.

Copywrite Cheryl Kolander 2005

A letter to a goldsmith:

I don’t think that the mining of common minerals is anything like the mining of precious metals.

The amounts used by natural dyer worldwide is nothing compared to industrial use.  Perhaps one one billionths!  All the natural dyers in the world could subsist on the tailings from industrial applications. 

The total amount of alum I use is less than what people pee out from their absorbed underarm anti-perspirants.  It would take 80 dyers working at my level to equal what is peed out of chrome, copper, tin and iron, into our water supply, from people taking mineral supplements, just in Portland, Oregon, a small city.

And that is nothing compared to industrial dumping.  Let’s see, the bad boys of the last 8 years are suspending all accounting, but last report was unless you dump over 1,000 TONS into the air or water per year, average, you don’t even have to report it. (And that can be of really toxic metals or terribly carcinogenic synthetic compounds.)

I strongly suggest that you work locally to reverse this horrid pollution.  I reuse all my dyes and mordants and dump nothing!  While I have no control on mining practices, I certainly can control what I do with what I myself use.

Most sincerely, Cheryl Kolander  6 November 2008