Marielle C. bangha-on, Aubrey y. Fetalvero, Kristine Joy Y. Sumanga (March 2008)
Philippine Science High School Western Visayas Campus – Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PSHS WVC), Brgy. Bito-on, Jaro, Iloilo City 5000, Philippines
ABSTRACT
Natural dyes are used to color various materials such as texitiles, papers, and cosmetics. Some of the colors produced by these dyes are orange, maroon, brown, gray, blue, yellow, pink, beige, peach and also with different shades. Researches show that natural dyes can be extracted from different plants including weeds. Among all weeds, only cogon (Imperata exalatata Brongn.) has been proven as a source of dye.
The first objective of the study aimed to identify the colors produced by the dyes extracted from the weeds: Amaranthus spinosus (Kolitis), Ageratum conyzoides L. (Bulak-manok), Euphorbia hirta (Gatas-gatas), Cyperus iria (Payong-payong) and Mimosa pudica (Makahiya). Using the peak wavelenght of absorption measured by the UV mini Spectrophotometer 1240, the weeds produced red color for cyperus iria (Payong-payong) and Mimosa pudica (Makahiya) while the weeds Amaranthus apinosus (Kolitis), Ageratum conyzoides L. (Bulak-manok), and Euphorbia hirta (gatas-gatas) produced colors in the green-yellow range.
The second objection of the study aimed to determine which concentration of natural dye is most acceptable in terms of color and appearance on pina cloth. Nine panelists were invited to rate the dye extracted from the weeds did not affect the color acceptability of the dye.
Based on major findings, it is recommended that future studies may be conducted exploring different mordant from alum, and utilizing different types of cloth. Also, factors such as colorfastness and light fastness may be considered as another variable.