Skip to content

Shop
Learn
Journal
Info
About

Shop
Learn
Journal
Info
About

Free ground shipping on all domestic orders over $125

We’re Going Back to Bali and Sumba

Join Us May 2026

Natural Dye supplies

Classes & Education

our natural dyehouse

BROWSE OUR PRODUCTS

Natural Dyes

Shop

Mordants and Assists

Shop

Fabrics and Dyeables

Shop

The Latest from our blog

Mordant Monday: Myrobalan Magic

October 27, 2025October 27, 2025

Sunday Visit: The Incredible Amy Dufault

October 26, 2025October 26, 2025

Sunday Visit: William Ingram and Jean Howe of Threads of Life Bali

October 19, 2025October 19, 2025

You might also be interested in…

Our Mordanted Bandanas

October 19th, 2025 – Eco-Printing Deep Dive with Monica Medeiros of Brico Press

PLANT TO PIGMENT PRE ORDER – By Natalie Stopka

botanicalcolors

Ancient dyes for modern times. Your resource for natural dyes, education and natural dye production.

Join us for our Colors of Bali & Sumba Tour May 20

Join us for our Colors of Bali & Sumba Tour May 2026 with @thethreadsoflifebali !

This tour provides an opportunity to meet and learn from Indonesian artists and indigenous communities with insight and connections that will endure long after our visit is over.

We will view the textiles at Threads of Life and get an introduction to the variety of textiles. Participants may take an Indonesian cooking course, or relax by the pool. A light schedule will introduce the cultures of Indonesia and our host organization, Threads of Life. Our 6 days at the Threads of Life dye studio will explore the main traditional dye processes of the Indonesian archipelago. There will be unique opportunities to participate in the processing of a Strobilanthes cusia harvest into indigo pigment and paste, and the setting and use of 600-liter indigo vats, to experience the complex oil- and metallic-mordant treatments needed to get the traditional red from Morinda citrifolia roots, to use Ceriops tagal extract for the brown color of Central Java’s batiks, and to explore the archipelago’s mud dye practices. Alongside this will be the opportunity to learn batik, and a very special two day workshop within our studio time to learn about barkcloth from Central Sulawesi, and develop personal creative projects. For our last 3 days, we will tour the textile villages of east Bali. We will see weft ikat, songket supplementary weft cloth and ritual textiles in Sidemen; we will explore the cultural and technical complexity of Tenganan’s double ikat geringsing; and we will visit the makers of discontinuous weft rangrang in Seraya. For those adventuring on to Sumba, our final day in east Bali will be the start of our Sumba tour. We will travel from east Bali to DPS Airport and board a short flight to Sumba. Once in Sumba, we will use our hotel as our starting point to travel to villages and growers to learn about complex mordanting, Morinda citrifolia, indigo, mud dye and unique sculptural basketry, and learning from elders.

To learn more, head to our website or email bali2026@botanicalcolors.com

#threadsoflifebali #botanicalcolors #naturaldyetrip #naturaldyeworkshop #bali #sumba

We love our dear friends at @vibrantvalleyfarms an

We love our dear friends at @vibrantvalleyfarms and we love this photo of their stunning marigolds! We are stocked full for this winter season, so get some for all of your upcoming holiday projects including Halloween and Dia De Los Muertos!

Halloween is coming up! If you need some ideas for

Halloween is coming up! If you need some ideas for out of this world costumes, why not try @caramariepiazza's CHROMATIC TRANSFORMATIONS WORKSHOP? The recording is available for immediate download. In this in depth workshop you are able to learn how to create unique cosmic patterns and surface design techniques on a variety of natural dyes. Both with the tannin - ferrous reaction and with pH sensitive dyes.

Head to the LEARN section of our website for purchase.

#ph #naturaldyes #naturaldyeworkshop #botanicalcolors

Mordant Monday! Mad For Myrobalan Magic – Make a M

Mordant Monday! Mad For Myrobalan Magic - Make a Myro rainbow.

This week’s tannin exploration focuses on Myrobalan. I changed it up a bit this week by using our mordanted cotton bandana 6-pack as the base for exploring myrobalan. The convenience was a pleasant surprise and the colors came out beautiful. Myrobalan is a traditional cellulose tannin pre-treatment and dye, and used in Ayurvedic and traditional medicine. It’s an important color and used frequently in India and Southeast Asia.

Myrobalan imparts a light yellow on cotton with a subtle light brown undertone, making it an ideal foundation for color overdyeing, and indigo combinations. Like our other examples, when combined with other colors you can get exciting mixes and beautiful color blends that harmonize and are perfect for patchwork, creating gradations and stitching.

Skill level: Good for an intermediate dyer. You should be familiar with cellulose mordanting (or get the 6-pack and jump right in), dyeing with natural dye extracts, and indigo dipping and overdyes.

The inspiration for using Myrobalan comes from Sara Buscaglia of Ancient Futures Farm @farmandfolk and author of the book Farm & Folk Quilt Alchemy (In her book, Sara beautifully articulated some ideas that I’d been mulling over and when I saw the results she achieved, I knew we should dive in and start testing colors. It’s been a lot of fun! Sara mentions that she uses Myrobalan with indigo for her Sage color. I was trying for a similar effect, but achieved slightly different results as the myrobalan I used created a darker gold than what Sara gets. I think that’s a lot of the fun of creating gradations: each dyer will achieve a slightly different result.

I used Myrobalan, Indigo and Lac for the color gradations. Head to our website to read the whole post!

Follow on Instagram

JOIN OUR NEWSLETTER

botanical_colors_horizontal

Botanical Colors
Seattle, WA

© Botanical colors 2025

Web Development by Two Loon Software

Shop | Learn | About Us | Employment | Contact Us

Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions

Shop
Learn
Journal
Info
About