Jack-wood Yellow Hand-sewing Thread 1100 meters

30/2 cotton thread hand-dyed yellow with jack tree heartwood (1100 meters / 1200 yards)

This thread has been hand-dyed at our studio in Ubud, Bali, using the heartwood of the jack tree (Artocarpus heterophyllus). Yellows are notoriously difficult to achieve using natural dyes. The difficulty is colorfastness rather than color. There are many yellow colorings but most fade quickly, a prime example being turmeric.

The most colorfast natural yellow native to Indonesia is Maclura cochinchinensis heartwood, but this is slow growing and over harvested, and not something we will use. We use jack heartwood as the next best thing. Our dyeing process alternates the application of a traditional aluminum mordant from dry Symplocos cochinchinensis leaf powder with immersion in the jack wood extract vat.

Jack trees are widespread in farmers' forest gardens. They are grown both for their fruit and their wood. Jackfruit is eaten unripe as a cooked vegetable and ripe as a fragrant fruit. The wood is used in Bali for the construction of temple buildings, and it is off cuts from this work that we use in the studio.