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The Botanical Colors Beginner’s Dye Kit

The Beginner’s Dye Kit Discovering the world of natural dyes for the first time is one of those seismic psychic shifts where suddenly everything is a potential dyestuff. That red that came from your farmer’s market amaranth flowers, the seed from your avocado toast that friends say “gives the most amazing dusty rose”, the flowers dropping onto the streets and sidewalks leaving stains of red, purple and yellow…the possibilities are endless. Your mind is zinging and you wonder if that color could change the color of your clothing, but how to begin experimenting? The Beginner’s Dye Kit is a curated … Read more

Black Hollyhock

Pre-order: Ships the week of 11/19 We’ve unearthed our stash of Black Hollyhock blossoms and are eager to kick off some summer dyeing projects. Black hollyhock is a bit of a grandstander – all beautiful and lush and deeply pigmented blossoms that can be fragile in terms of wash and lightfastness. And for the color? It’s like a grand science experiment as well as somewhat unpredictable whether you will achieve a purple, a blue, a gray or a green. However, they are all lovely colors and it’s always a virtuous exercise in learning how to let go a bit as … Read more

Organically Grown Marigold Flowers

We love how marigold makes a beautiful and easy color that captures summer even when the weather is cold and gray. As a familiar garden plant, they brighten flower borders and are a companion plant in organic gardening. The marigold (Tagetes erecta) is native to Central America. The Aztecs used it as a flavoring ingredient for cacao and it was important in Aztec rituals. In Mexico, marigold is also referred to as “Flor de Muertos” (Flowers of the Dead) and used in the Dia de Muertos festivals and ceremonies. The deeply scented and brightly colored Mexican marigold is believed to … Read more

Image of whole yellow onion with flaking onion skin

Onion Skins

Sold in 50g packages. Onion skins are such a beautiful dyestuff and gift from the kitchen. They are often one of the first natural dyestuffs used with new dyers and in classrooms. We remove the brown papery peels when we’re cooking and tuck them away until we have enough for a dye bath. In the dye pot, the smell of onions evoke a pot of soup simmering on the stove. The color yield is a warm gold to rust to green and depends on the onion skin color, how much you use and if you use iron in the dye … Read more

Organically Grown Sulfur Cosmos Flowers

Sulfur cosmos (Cosmos sulphureus) is a member of the cosmos family. It is a real treat to have in the natural dye garden. This is another New World native, indigenous to Mexico and Central America. The vigorous annual readily self-seeds, attracts pollinators and yields masses of bright orange flowers. You can use them either fresh or dried. Add the flowers directly into the dye bath and watch as they make a wonderful, sunny orange shade that brightens the winter palette, or scatter them for eco-printing. If you are familiar with dyeing with coreopsis, sulfur cosmos makes a brighter shade with … Read more

tan powder on a white bowl sitting on a woven fabric background

Ground Oak Galls

Oak galls (sometimes called oak apples or gall nuts) are small to medium-sized round hard growths that are high in tannin and are an ancient mordant. They are an essential ingredient in making oak gall ink and can also be combined with iron to produce gray, purple and black shades on textile fibers. Our oak galls are often referred to as Aleppo Oak galls as they come from the Aleppo oak tree (Quercus infectoria). The tree is native to Southern Europe, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Cyprus, Lebanon and Israel. The gall is formed when an oak leaf bud or large … Read more

The Easy 1-2-3 Fructose Indigo Kit

The 1-2-3 fructose indigo vat is one of our most popular vats for its ease of use and good, strong colors. We made things easy to start your new indigo adventure with this kit that has enough pre-measured indigo and auxiliaries to make a rich vat in a 5-gallon bucket. We’re also including 4 linen blend cocktail napkins that you can dip and make a set of pretty napkins or just use them to show gradations of indigo. The bundle is packaged in an organic cotton bag, that can also be dyed! Experiment with gradation dyeing, shibori, or get into … Read more

Tannin and alum mordanted fat quarter blanks

Tannin and alum mordanted fat quarter blanks. Continuing our mordanted materials offerings, we are pleased to offer a fat quarter 4-pack, to inspire you to create incredible color combinations using pre-mordanted, organic cotton fabric. Each bundle includes 4 fat quarters, mordanted with gallo-tannin, sumac, cutch and quebracho and aluminum sulfate. This creates four different color bases for color explorations, and if you follow our simple instructions for creating color gradations, you can basically take your color ideas in all sorts of fun directions. This morning, I cut up the fat quarters into 4 pieces, labeled them, and then overdyed everything … Read more

Tannin Grayscale with Cara Marie Piazza

Tannin Grayscale Online workshop with Cara Piazza Online workshop held on Saturday January 25, 2025 10AM-1PM Pacific / 1 – 4pm Eastern The workshop will be recorded and available for 120 days after purchase. Learn how to create moody gray gradations using our pre-mordanted cotton fabric fat quarters, natural dyes, logwood and a few surprises. Tannins are a bitter and astringent compound found so abundantly in many plants. In food, they serve as the slight pucker in black coffee and tea, and the “oaky” flavor in aged wines. Tannins are used in medicine and for leather tanning. For us, … Read more

Tannin + Alum Mordanted Sashiko Thread Bundle

Tannin + Alum Mordanted Sashiko Thread Bundle We are now offering our popular PFD sashiko threads mordanted in three different, beautiful tannin shades. Each bundle of 10 skeins is one tannin color that is also mordanted in aluminum potassium sulfate. This is an easy mordant option to create gradations and nuanced color in your stitching and dye work. The three mordant options are Gallo Tannin (Oak galls), known as a “clear” tannin with a creamy coloration that imparts virtually no shade differences from regular alum mordants. Sumac Tannin, imparts a subtle, soft yellow undertone to many colors, and shifts light … Read more