Cowhide / Kip leather / botanical leather® Sakura dye / Mountain cherry blossom

Pink is not the only pigment contained in cherry trees. It also contains a variety of colors, including yellow, beige, and gray. To dye with plants, a "mordant" is required to fix the color with a metallic (silver ion) component. The color of the dye changes depending on the nature of the metal used as the mordant and the part of the cherry tree used. Using parts close to the flowers, such as twigs and buds, will produce a "cherry blossom color," using the bark will produce a beige-orange "flower and leaf color," and using the core material inside the bark or early summer leaves will produce a yellowish "pale yellow" color.

When you get the twigs before they bloom, chop them finely that same day and extract the pigment. Add chopped twigs and bark chips, water, and a small amount of rice vinegar, bring to a boil, and after about 120 minutes, strain it through a cloth and extract the decoction 3 to 4 more times. If you leave the extracted decoction for about a week, it will oxidize and become more reddish. Since the pigment is water-soluble, a mordant is required to fix it to the leather. After applying a mordant containing aluminum to dye it from yellow to cherry pink, copper for brown, and iron for gray, place the leather in the boiling decoction and allow it to soak in the decoction.