Mordant Monday: Middle Mordant in Toronto

Thank you to Rachel MacHenry and Gitte Hansen of Contemporary Textile Studio Co-operative for the lovely photos! I taught a one day workshop on middle mordant using Japanese dyes in Toronto on Friday, and had a great time with the students. This was the first time we’d tried the technique using only Japanese dyes that we extracted, and we also had a side trip into kakishibu which didn’t require any mordant, but made a beautiful shade. I’ve written about middle mordanting before: Catharine Ellis has a nice recipe and procedure in her book and Studio Notes, and I’ve also seen … Read more

MORDANT MONDAY: How To Reuse A Tannin Bath

We get mordant questions all the time at Botanical Colors so why not create Mordant Monday??? Got mordanting questions? Email [email protected] YOU ASKED: I’m wondering if its possible to reuse a tannin bath, perhaps by using half as much tannin powder the second time as one can do when re using a mordant bath? Recently I have made a tannin bath for linen and have lots left over, it would be great not to throw it out! Secondly, I usually rinse the fabric after mordanting and before dyeing- is this correct? KATHY ANSWERED: I think recharging and reusing tannin baths … Read more

Mordant Monday: Make a Natural Dye Rainbow for Pride Month!

For this Mordant Monday, we are bringing back our Pride Rainbow! We love rainbows, color gradations, anything to show off the beauty and nuance of natural dyes. And now with our pre-mordanted bandanas, you can make a rainbow of your own! Materials Experience level Familiarity with using natural dye extracts, or using raw materials in an immersion dye bath, and with overdyeing colors. Familiarity with indigo and indigo over dyeing. A 6 pack of pre-mordanted bandanas Yellow Orange  Red Green Blue or Indigo Purple Process In this rainbow, the “primary” colors of Yellow, Red and Blue along with Purple are … Read more

A Humble, Ingenious Leaf Mordant: Symplocos

The plant world contains species that draw alum from the soil and store them in their tissue – they’re referred to as alum accumulators or hyper accumulators. There’s a plant species called symplocos that is an alum accumulator and contains enough alum to be used as a plant-based mordant. We carry symplocos and are happy to have a new shipment arriving this week, so it’s a good time to review this mordant alternative with a great backstory. The Story of Symplocos In 2005 and 2006, The Bebali Foundation (a partner enterprise to Threads of Life that focuses on sustainable economic … Read more

Twilight Tannins with Cara Marie Piazza (Formerly Tannin Grayscale) – RECORDING

Twilight Tannins Online workshop with Cara Piazza Formerly called Tannin Grayscale RECORDINGย  The workshop will be recorded and available for 180 days after purchase. The backstory: Cara is famous for her moody, New York state of mind color palettes, and the tannin mordanted fat quarters are perfect for showing off these rich shades with subtle colorations and unusual hues. ย We called her workshop “Tannin Grayscale” as a nod to graphic designers who will add a touch of gray to a color in order to create a more vivid hue. ย However, now that we’ve seen the results of her workshop, we … Read more

Mordant Monday: Ceriops Tagal (No Mordant Required!)

Pictured here is our drying line from our recent tour to The Threads of Life Bali. The black pieces are Ceriops overdyed in Indigo. Today, we’re taking a look at Ceriops Tagal, a “red” tannin from Indonesia, and a color that is rich in history and traditional use. We are excited to present it to you again as it was one of our favorite dyes to work with while we were at The Threads of Life Bali. At Botanical Colors, we recognize that the mangrove species is threatened due to widespread clearing of mangrove forests for timber, fish farming and … Read more

White powder on a white circular ceramic tray

Aluminum Triformate Cold Water Mordant

Aluminum Triformate Cold Water Mordant We are pleased to offer a new mordant made from mineral salts called aluminum triformate. Aluminum triformate is a room temperature mordant for all natural fibers including wool, silk, cotton, hemp and linen. It does work best on wool. It also works on a gpL (grams per Liter) calculation or a weight of fiber (WOF) percentage and we’ve used it successfully with both methods. Each of these methods have their advantages for the artisan dyer. If you want to dip a scarf or two in mordant and then move on to dyeing without a lot … Read more

GRAVITY ICE DYE CLASS RECORDING with Cara Marie Piazza

Join Cara Marie Piazza for a fresh new spin on Ice Dyeing… ICE DYEING GRAVITY EDITION. THIS IS AN ONLINE RECORDING As the blustery winter trudges on, use your chilly surroundings to help make this fun new surface design technique. This class is approximately 1.5 hours long on zoom. In this class, Cara demonstrates a NEW Ice Dyeing Technique called gravity dyeing. She will show you how to get this arctic dripping pattern on a T-shirt, a yard of silk charmeuse and one of our mordanted cotton bandannas. She will also show you how to trap exhausted dye baths in … Read more

Test Dyeing in Detroit With Lazlo

This week we are in Detroit, dipping indigo with Lazlo, an apparel brand run by a sibling duo in Detroit. So exciting! Lazlo is taking the most familiar items in a manโ€™s wardrobe and rethinking each step of the manufacturing process to consider its impact on local economies and the environment. The result is a premium t-shirt with a lifetime guarantee. Check outย this interview we had with them back in August and see more of our indigo exploration this week below.