Thanks for spending some time with us today for this special Sunday Visit with Catharine Ellis.
You might know Catharine Ellis as the author of what many call their “natural dye bible” The Art and Science of Natural Dyes: Principles, Experiments, and Results. Co-written with textile engineer and chemist Joy Boutrup, the book is a comprehensive guide that explains the general principles of natural dyeing.
We’re excited that she just launched a companion to this in the form of The Studio Formulas Set for The Art and Science of Natural Dyes.
Catharine has been a weaver and a natural dyer for over 40 years. And also teaches in the U.S. and internationally. We catch up with her today to learn a little more.
Tell me a little about where you live and what you love about your natural dye space.
I live in the mountains of North Carolina in a relatively rural setting. We are blessed with plenty of good water and moderate temperatures – resources not to be taken lightly these days!
My dye studio, or “Studio D” as we call it, was supposed to be a dark room for my husband, complete with a large, shallow, dark room sink. I’m afraid he lost it to me from lack of use. It now has plenty of windows, smells like fermented indigo, and is a place where I spend time every day. I can experiment and make any kind of mess I want. It’s only a few steps from the house and “Studio W” the cleaner weaving studio.
What is something you are most excited about right now from all your research?
The fermented indigo vats still have me totally engaged, as I explore efficient methods of starting and maintaining them. I’m controlling depth of color that results from both time in the vat and number of immersions. I’m doing the best indigo dyeing I’ve ever done these days. Joy and I recently taught at Penland School of Crafts where we set up a fermented vat that was ready for dyeing in just 2 days when we “seeded” the vat with smaller vats I had started at home!
Tell us a little about The Studio Formulas Set for The Art and Science of Natural Dyes. Why did you decide to change the format from book to recipe cards?
Schiffer Publishing proposed the idea of publishing the cards. They are not meant to replace the book, but to supplement it with an easy to use format for the recipes. The “bonus” is the dye mixing cards that reflect much of what I have been working on for the last few years: predictable color mixing.
It’s important to note that only the book includes the reasoning behind the recipes and why certain processes work. THAT is the key to good dyeing.
What’s a color you are most drawn to right now?
My favorite color is always the one I am using at the moment. I just stored this years crop of dried weld, and am planning to harvest my madder in the fall. And of course, I keep working with the indigo vats.
Back in July 2020, Catharine Ellis was one of our first presenters on FEEDBACK FRIDAY (we didn’t even have a Zoom theme song then)! Over 600 people gathered that Friday to hear her story. We recorded it so you can go back in time and listen here.
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