Working with kava
In the EU, kava root is sold for two uses: colouring natural fibres, and scenting a room. This page is how to do both properly.
Where people start
The base liquid
The obvious place to start is the way kava is prepared on the islands and in New Zealand. Root and water, worked by hand, strained. The two forms are handled differently.
Traditional grind
- Ratio
- 35 g of root to 600 ml of water, about 17 ml per gram
- Water
- Room temperature
- Method
- Root into a filter bag, submerged, kneaded for five minutes with the bag squeezed as you go
- Finish
- Lift the bag out and wring it dry
- Again
- The same root gives a second, weaker liquid if it is kneaded again in half as much fresh water
Instant
- Ratio
- 16 g to 600 ml of water, about 37 ml per gram
- Water
- Cold
- Method
- Stir it in. No bag, no kneading, no straining
- Finish
- Nothing to strain out
- Why less
- The woody fibre has already been removed, which makes it more concentrated per gram
The base liquid in practice
It does give colour and aroma
The liquid comes out cloudy and tan, and it smells strongly of the root. Dip a strip of cotton in it and the cloth comes out a soft beige. Leave a bowl of it on the table and the room takes on a warm, woody smell for an hour or so. Anyone who has made kava this way has already seen the colour, on their hands and on the filter bag.
So the material clearly carries both. The problem is how little of either the cold water actually gets out of the root.
Where it falls short
Three separate problems. Each one has a fix further down this page.
The colour is pale for the amount of root
Cold water holds the root in suspension rather than dissolving it. Most of the pigment never leaves the particles, so it is strained out and thrown away with them. That is why 35 g of root gives a tint rather than a colour.
Nothing fixes the colour to the fibre
Kava’s pigment needs a mordant to bond to cloth. Without one it sits on the surface, so it looks right while it is wet and then leaves again with the first wash.
The scent stays in the liquid
The compounds that carry kava’s smell are resinous and barely soluble in water. They stay in the bowl instead of moving into the air, which is why the room smells of it for an hour and then does not.
If you are serious about it
How to get a colour that lasts and a scent that fills a room
Both problems have well understood solutions, and neither of them starts with the base liquid. What follows is the method for each, in the order you would actually do it.
Colour
A hot bath, a mordant to bind the pigment, and time in the cooling liquid. Five steps below.
Aroma
Oil, wax or alcohol rather than water, because that is what the scent will dissolve into. Five ways below.
01 · Colour
The dye bath
Colour comes out with heat and time. Kneading in cold water will not do it.
Strength
20 to 30 g of root per litre of water. As a starting point, use about as much dry root as the dry weight of the fibre you are dyeing. More root, deeper colour. Traditional grind goes in a filter bag so the bath stays clean. Instant disperses on its own and leaves less residue, which gives more even colour on cloth.
Prepare the fibre
Wash it in hot water with a little pH-neutral soap to strip out any finish, and put it into the bath wet. Dry cloth going into a dye bath is the most common cause of patchy colour.
Wool and silk take the deepest colour and take it without help. Cotton and linen find enough tannin in the kava itself to grab onto, so they work untreated, though they go further with a mordant.
Mordant
In a separate bath, before the dye bath. The mordant changes the result more than the cultivar does.
The bath
Simmer the root for 45 to 60 minutes, then strain. Hold the bath just below a simmer for about an hour with the cloth in it, moving the cloth now and then.
Cool, rinse, repeat
Take it off the heat and leave the cloth in the bath as it cools, overnight if you can. That costs nothing and does more for depth than another hour of heat. Rinse cool, wash with pH-neutral soap, dry out of direct sun. Repeated baths build depth, as long as the cloth dries fully in between.
The same bath works as a stain on bare wood and as a sepia wash on paper.
Where each cultivar starts, before any mordant. The full scale, with what shifts it, is on Colour and aroma.
02 · Aroma
Keep the water out of it
The compounds that carry kava’s scent are resinous and barely soluble in water. Anything that moves them into oil, wax or warm air works better than a bath.
Coarse traditional grind into a muslin bag, then into a drawer or wardrobe. A squeeze revives it. This is also the best use for the fibre left in the filter bag after a base liquid or a dye bath, once it has dried out completely.
A tablespoon in a pan of water over a low heat scents a room within a few minutes. Cultivar makes a real difference here. Palarasul goes floral and light, Bir Kar goes dark and peppery.
The strongest of these methods. Warm 1 part root in 5 parts of a light carrier oil, jojoba or fractionated coconut, at around 60 °C for two to three hours. Do not let it boil. Strain through fine cloth. The oil comes out amber and holds its scent for months. Use it as the base for a reed diffuser, stir it into melted wax for candles and melts, or work it into bare wood.
The one that carries furthest. Cover 1 part coarse grind with 5 parts perfumer’s alcohol, seal the jar, and leave it somewhere dark for two weeks, shaking it daily. Strain through fine cloth and then through a paper filter. The alcohol pulls out the resin that water cannot touch, and it flashes off fast, which is what makes it sharp in a room spray. Dilute with distilled water for a spray, or use it neat in a diffuser blend.
A spoonful of coarse grind under a mix of dried lavender, citrus peel or cedar sits underneath as a base note and holds the top notes longer.
Before you start
Things to know
Skin
Kava stains, so some people prefer gloves. The pigment tints skin temporarily and fades with washing.
Surfaces
Work over a laundry sink or a protected worktop. Ceramic and glass rinse clean. Porous wood and light stone can pick up a faint tint.
Storage
Keep opened packets airtight, cool and dry, away from light. They hold colour and aroma for 12 to 18 months.
Choose a cultivar
Ten cultivars, each with its own colour and scent. Every order ships from within the EU.
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