Search Results for: indigo

One of the first dyes that I ever encountered was cochineal, and although I was surprised that it came from an insect, I was also in love with its beautiful color.  Cochineal was the most important natural dye to originate from Oaxacan indigenous culture that still has great value and a global impact today. When Spanish colonizers realized the value of this dye, they created plantations and exploited indigenous labor to process up to 300,000 pounds of cochineal for export per year. It was one of the most precious colors and brought great wealth to the Spanish crown. Being in … Read more

This week’s Mordant Monday focuses on Chestnut. We used Chestnut extract in our gradation and absolutely loved the combination of Chestnut, Fustic and Iron with Indigo. This gradation is slightly different than our previous experiments. This time I did not overdye with a warm shade like Madder, to get corals and pinks. I wanted to focus on green and blue. Like previous examples, when a tannin is combined with other colors you can get exciting mixes and beautiful color blends that harmonize and are perfect for patchwork, creating gradations and stitching. If you are a yarn person, many of these … Read more

Black Walnut Juglans nigra is one of our most interesting tannins and it’s a color that’s native to the North American continent. The entire tree contains color but it is in the green hulls that we find a strong concentration of dark tannins yield light beige to golden brown on cellulose. On wool, black walnut really shines and makes a rich brown shade. Walnut Hull Powder from black walnut (Juglans nigra) is a common source of brown dye throughout North America. The fleshy hulls are full of tannin, juglone and other pigments and are the primary source of the dye. … Read more