Preparation and storage
As per current European regulations, our fine kavas can be enjoyed to prepare a nature dye for t-shirts and other textiles. The process is straightforwad. Simply prepare the kava the way people make it in places like New Zealand, Vanuatu or Hawaii. Following the easy preparation, you end up with a bowl of 100% organic, clean and safe liquid that you can dip your t-shirt (or any other light coloured textile) in overnight. Remove the item of clothing, hang to dry and it’s ready for wearing. You may want to add a natural fixative at some stage if you want to ensure that the kava colour stays fixed and survives machine washing (please only wash it in cold water regardless of whether you use a fixative or not).
How to prepare the kava (to be used as a dye)? Again, just do it the way people outside of Europe would do it when they want to prepare their kava. Depending on whether you use traditional grind powder you might need a strainer bag. If you only want to have enough liquid for one person’s t-shirt, use either 35of traditional powder, or 15g of instant powder.
With traditional powder, place it in a strainer bag. Place the strainer bag in a bowl of warm (body temperature) water (use 15 parts of water to 1 part of kava, so for every 1g of kava, use 15ml of water) and knead, squeeze and massage it for about 5-10 minutes. Squeeze out all the liquid and it’s ready. You can also blend it in a blender for about 3-4 minutes (use cold water if that’s the case) and then strain it with a strainer bag. We generally recommend the traditional kneading method for best results, but the blender method also works fine.
With instant kava, just use one heaping teaspoon (about 5-7 grams) per 200ml of water. Stir well and it’s ready.
Regardless of which product or method listed above you choose, you will end up with a high quality kava liquid that you can then choose to use as your natural dye for a t-shirt or other textiles. We will be providing more detailed information about dyes and caring for kava-dyed textiles soon."
