Re: Alum?
Posted by Anon on September 06, 1999 at 05:08:07:
In Reply to: Re: Alum? posted by SeeSee on September 05, 1999 at 17:37:16:
: Catherine, just type those letters and numbers in order, those who
: understand chemical notation will understand what you mean.
Alternatively, use an underscore to indicate that the next character
is a subscript, and a circumflex (sp?) to indicate that the next
character is a superscript, and parenthesis if you need more than one
character. (Gosh, can you tell I've done computer programming and
math/science assistance via e-mail?) So, carbon dioxide would be
CO_2, and the formula for the area of a circle would be (pi)r^2 or
(pi)*r^2, where * is multiplication.
: I know you guys all think I'm your mom, warning you to stay away
from
: everything bad,
[...]
: I would keep your consumption/ingestion/absorption of aluminum
: products to an absolute minumum,
Have to second this - that includes care with acidic things like
tomato sauce and aluminum foil or cookware, but I suspect alum isn't
absorbed very far through the skin easily. (This is REALLY just an
educated guess on my part!)
Unfortunately, the section of my handy herb book that deals with
mordants (things that help bind the dye and often change its color)
suggest using 1 oz. alum plus 1/4 oz. cream of tartar (acid) for 4 oz.
wool. That's a lot. Compare to chrome (don't use this on your skin,
PLEASE, it's poisonous), which is 1/8 oz per 4 oz. wool, or iron: 1/8
oz. iron plus 1/4 oz. cream of tartar per 4 oz. wool. Typically with
these, you apply the mordant first, then later dye the wool, and it's
typical to use the same amount plant material as wool to be dyed, so
if the ratios carried over to mehndi, you'd use 1/4 as much alum as
henna (I think the usual lemon juice would do the same as the cream of
tartar). Again, that seems like a lot, plus I think it would be very
uncomfortable - so if you're going to try it at all, either use a weak
or brief pre-treatment (so you're not leaving the stuff on with the
henna overnight) or start with just a tiny tiny bit.
Going further: it looks like alum is used for mordants more for clear
colors than deep colors. My book lists the effects of several
mordants with a variety of herbs, and alum is usually described as
resulting in one of the lighter colors, though often clear or bright.
Best wishes, do please put your health first, and if you want the
reference, it's "The Complete Book of Herbs & Spices" by Sarah
Garland, 1979. It only covers dying and mordants briefly -- you might
want to look into a more focused source.