Chapter 1474: Successful Dyeing

When dyeing fabric, with Alum present, after the Alum reaction and color fixation, the color of the fabric can be much more durable, and the dyed colors can also be more beautiful and richer.

This is not simply about having a certain improvement effect on the clothing and appearance of Huaxia; the greater benefit is that it can highlight the wealth of Huaxia, completely distinguish Huaxia from other tribes, and one can immediately determine that someone is from Huaxia just by their attire.

Furthermore, fabric with rich colors will have a much higher price. If one were to take fabric and Silk of various colors to the Xuanyuan Tribe, that would be a dimensionality-reducing strike for the Xuanyuan Tribe. Although it cannot achieve dumping, one can use this item to earn more grain from the Xuanyuan Tribe.

In the trade between Huaxia and the Xuanyuan Tribe, Huaxia still basically maintains a trade surplus because what Huaxia sells are basically industrial products after simple processing, or processed agricultural products, which have higher added value. The Xuanyuan Tribe itself does not have the ability to produce them; if they want them, they can only buy them at a high price. After buying them back, only a small portion of people can use them, and the vast majority of people are not qualified to use them, or even get to see them.

Huaxia's goods are luxury items for the Xuanyuan Tribe, but what the Xuanyuan Tribe can trade to Huaxia are only Primary agricultural products, Tea Leaves, medicinal materials, and Wax Seed, all of which Huaxia does not have. If Huaxia had these species, the Xuanyuan Tribe would only be able to unilaterally accept Huaxia's dumping, and could only use grain and population to trade.

If the fabric could be dyed again, it would become even more precious. The Xuanyuan Tribe is also a tribe with clear levels. Every trade, besides what Xuanyuan needs, what the entire Xuanyuan Tribe needs, there are also the things needed by those Advanced Leaders, Nobles, and now the officials of the Xuanyuan Tribe.

With the existence of the Embassy, trade exchanges and goods trading are relatively easy. As long as you give a suitable price and it is within the trade catalog of the two tribes, then you can contact Huaxia yourself and then use your own grain and wealth to trade with Huaxia.

Baifeng took the Alum and first found Miaoyin and Zhinu to ask them how the progress of the Weaving Department's fabric dyeing technology was going. They both had dejected expressions because, just like before, they were still stuck in a technical bottleneck and simply did not know where to exert effort. No matter how they tried or how long they soaked it, the color would not become more beautiful, nor would a more durable color appear.

Baifeng brought them good news: "The Ministry of Works has discovered a new mineral. Now we must experiment with it first. If it is confirmed that it is indeed the thing I know, then dyeing fabric will no longer be a problem in the future; there can be various colors, and it will not be afraid of fading."

"Really, Father? Hurry and try it! What colors do you need? I will arrange for people to get them!"

Seeing that Miaoyin was very excited, Baifeng also smiled and said: "Find some relatively small pieces of clean cloth. As for colors, bring a little of each, and then let us test what kind of changes will occur after it is added."

"Okay!" Miaoyin was more proactive than anyone and hurriedly went to arrange for people to get dyes. She had no interest in the few common dyes currently being made because they were not beautiful. She had people boil a type of wood, that brown wood, and the final dyed color was reddish, relatively beautiful, like a flower, but it was still far from the color of a flower. She hoped that the thing her father brought this time could create a color she liked.

There was another kind, which used willow leaves. Willow leaves are green, and the juice boiled out is also green, but after dyeing the fabric, it is light yellow. She liked this very much, but unfortunately, it was not durable, and the color was not beautiful enough; she always felt something was missing.

Baifeng naturally first brought muddy water, then added a little bit of Alum. In the astonished gazes of everyone, the turbid water turned clear in an instant. Baifeng could not help but be a bit excited: "That's it, that's it, there is a high probability that it is correct."

"Father, what exactly is this? Why can it make the water so clear?"

Baifeng fiddled with that plate of transparent blocky material: "This should be Alum. Because it can make water bright and transparent, it is called Alum. Alum is a mineral; there should be more than just this one kind of alum, but I don't remember many. As long as it is real, that is enough."

"Now, hurry up and bring all the dyes and cloth, and bring clear water over. Bring more; let us do the experiment properly."

The dye house prepared very quickly; after all, they were all materials that had been prepared long ago, and the amount required was small. At a very fast speed, it was boiled, and then those juices were brought over in wooden buckets, just a small amount.

Clear water was also prepared in large quantities. Baifeng thought it over repeatedly and decided to first add Alum to the clear water and stir it to dissolve, then put in the fabric. After the fabric was thoroughly soaked, it was slowly placed into one of the dye buckets to soak.

Fearing the contrast would not be enough, Baifeng had people divide the dye into two portions, one with Alum added and one without, and then tested again. After soaking, they were sent back to be rinsed with clear water to wash away the floating color. Usually, after this step, the color of the cloth would have already become very light, but unexpectedly, after this cleaning, the color not only did not fade but became even brighter and more vivid. In the entire Huaxia Weaving Department, no one had ever seen cloth with such beautiful colors.

Those few small pieces of fabric appeared very precious, and they were sent back before they were dry. Baifeng laughed out loud after seeing the finished product because he had succeeded. This was clearly Alum; after the dye was used, not only did it not fade, but the color also became more beautiful.

Just with the few dyes here, purple, light yellow, and sky blue colors had already been dyed. Baifeng really did not expect that purple would be so easy to dye, because "vermilion and purple are for the noble" implies that purple is extremely difficult to obtain, so how could there be purple so easily? Although it was like that kind of red-turning-purple, not particularly pure, it was still purple.

Then there were the changes in color depth due to the different amounts of Alum added. The happiest person was Miaoyin, because this color was infinitely close to the kind she wanted, the enthusiastic red of the begonia flower, that kind of beautiful deep red. She thought that if the soaking time were a little shorter, she might be able to obtain the color she wanted.

"How did this dye come about? What was it made with?" Baifeng pointed at the purple fabric and asked. If this purple were so easy to obtain, could it still be called precious?