Red Sandalwood – Pterocarpus antalinus
Red Sandalwood comes for a tree native to India and Indonesia. The dyestuff is from the heartwood and yields oranges, browns and auburn shades of color.
I have both the Sandalwood chips and Sandalwood powder. I have noticed some difference in the color of the chips or powder, and that probably has to do with the difference in the trees that are harvested.
To use Sandalwood chips, soak the Sandalwood chips in rubbing alcohol for at least a day to extract the color from the chips. This solution can then be added to the dye pot. Add pre-mordanted fibers and pre-wetted fibers to the dyepot and simmer. You can remove the fibers after simmering a while, or let the fibers cool completely in the dye pot before removing, which I often do.
I noticed that the finely ground Sandalwood powder gave lighter, juicier shades of orange than the Sandalwood chips, but results could vary due to the fiber being dyed and differences between the tree wood.