Mordant

Description

1) A substance, usually a water-soluble metal salt, capable of binding a dye to a textile fiber. he mordant forms an insoluble lake in the fiber. The color of the dye varies with the composition of the mordant. The most common chemical mordants were potassium sulfate aluminum potassium sulfate (alum), acid tartaric acid(cream of tartar), dichromate potassium dichromate(chrome), chloride sodium chloride (table salt), sulfate ferrous sulfate (iron), chloride stannous chloride (tin), sulfate copper sulfate (blue vitriol), sulfate sodium sulfate (Glaubers salt), oxide calcium oxide (lime), acid acetic acid (vinegar) and carbonate sodium carbonate (washing soda).

2) An adhesive or size used to bind pigments or gold and silver leaf to a surface. Gum and glair were used as aqueous based mordants.

3) A corrosive substance used to etch plates of glass or steel. Glass is etched with acid hydrofluoric acid to produce a matte or frosted surface.

4) A binder, sulfate papermaker's alum, used to fix rosin size to paper fibers.

Synonyms and Related Terms

mordiente (Esp.); bijtmidde (Ned); beitsmiddel (Ned); etsvloeistof (Ned); Beizmittel (Deut.); mordant (Fr.); mordente (Port.)

Authority

• R. J. Gettens, G.L. Stout, R. J. Gettens, G.L. Stout, Painting Materials, A Short Encyclopaedia, Dover Publications, New York, 1966

• G.S.Brady, G.S.Brady, Materials Handbook, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1971 Comment: p. 520

• Ralph Mayer, Ralph Mayer, A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques, Harper and Row Publishers, New York, 1969 (also 1945 printing)

• Richard S. Lewis, Richard S. Lewis, Hawley's Condensed Chemical Dictionary, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 10th ed., 1993

• Hoechst Celanese Corporation, Hoechst Celanese Corporation, Dictionary of Fiber & Textile Technology (older version called Man-made Fiber and Textile Dictionary, 1965), Hoechst Celanese Corporation, Charlotte NC, 1990

• Rosalie Rosso King, Rosalie Rosso King, Textile Identification, Conservation, and Preservation, Noyes Publications, Park Ridge, NJ, 1985

• Matt Roberts, Don Etherington, Matt Roberts, Don Etherington, Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books: a Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington DC, 1982

• Website address 1, Website address 1 Comment: AMOL reCollections Glossary at http://amol.org.au/recollections/7/c/htm for Definition #4

• Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, at http://www.wikipedia.com Comment: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordant (Accessed Nov. 9, 2005)