The Hard Questions about Heartwood
In the natural pigment world, the heartwood of the sappanwood tree is a precious source of vibrant crimson reds. The heartwood is the central inner “core” of the tree where the older wood is. Visually, the heartwood is usually darker in colour and may store pigments or sometimes, scents.
Our first encounter:
We found some sappanwood from an Indonesia-based seller on Shopee and also at a health and beauty store around the Geylang Serai market. Apparently it can be steeped in hot water and drunk as a traditional medicine (jamu). This was our first pH test of the sappanwood ink.
Our second encounter:
We managed to harvest from the tree growing in the Ethnobotany Garden at Singapore Botanic Gardens. With help from the Garden’s staff, a few thinner branches of around 5cm in width were pruned from the medium-sized tree, a task we had to be careful with because there were also prickly thorns running along the bark.
After some time figuring out how to split the branches, we were honestly disappointed to find only thin slivers of red heartwood in the middle. It looked so different from the thick heartwood pieces we typically see being sold!
It seems to us that the pieces typically used are from the main trunk or much thicker branches. According to Mathew et al. (2007), the tree can be cut when it is 7 to 8 years age, yielding about 50kg of wood.
The third encounter:
During our last visit to a permaculture farm in North Thailand, it so happened that there was a group of local textile dyers who were also visiting and setting up their dye baths. The master dyer had brought over a few thick branches (at least 15cm in width) harvested from his space. For the first time, we were able to witness the full glory of the red heartwood!
The wood was chopped into smaller, more manageable pieces and added into the cooking bath for many hours of boiling. A few large pieces of wood from another tree were added in to make the dye more lasting.
Afterthoughts:
Learning about the biology of the tree is part of the dye making process - how it grows, when to harvest etc. The unpredictability and complexity of it all is part of what makes the process of working with nature so intriguing, fascinating, and yes sometimes frustrating, since we aren’t the only ones in control. It does raise some questions in our mind about how sappanwood could be sustainably harvested, and if the whole tree needs to be cut down to make the harvest “economical”. After all, the heartwood needs quite a few years to develop and grow.
Anyway, just some thoughts to share about this traditional dye plant!
Upcoming!
Just a quick update on our upcoming Living Colours workshop. There are two slots left, so if anyone is keen for some colourful fun this Saturday morning and meet some like-minded folks, do head over to our Eventbrite page here.
Masak-masak Study Group Updates
We are hoping for more people to join our study group! With some ammendments to the tiers available, please see here to indicate your interest. We will be in touch with you if you’ve filled in the form. If you are kind of holding some questions about this group, please get in touch with us directly via IG (@wildd.sg) or through email.
We are going to be holding more nature art jamming sessions in the upcoming months. It will be free for masak study group folks to attend! Come and masak with us if you are looking for a small group to make stuff with!
Take care till next letter,
Liz and Shirin