Kathy Hattori, Author at Botanical Colors

Mordant Monday: In the clutches of Cutch

This week’s Mordant Monday explores another well known and important tannin: Cutch. Cutch is a wood dye from Senegalia catechu (formerly Acacia catechu), an acacia species that grows in South and Southeast Asia. The dye is both a colorant, and a traditional medicine. It is also the by-product from the manufacture of “katha”, which is a crystalline substance that is an ingredient in paan or betel nut leaf, which is an Indian mouth freshener and digestive. We’ve never tried paan, but we love cutch for its versatility and deep colors. It’s a sweet-smelling dye and the color yield ranges from … Read more

Mordant Monday: I’m Soy Happy!

In today’s Mordant Monday (excuse the awful pun – I found it online), we check out how to use soy as a binder for natural dyes and pigments. Before the widespread use of acrylic paints and mediums, artists had ingredients from the natural world to use for painting and printing on paper and canvas. They used a wide range of natural binders including tree sap, milk, egg, oils, minerals and other substances that helped pigments stay attached to substrates. In Japan, soybeans are the most common binder for textile work, and it serves as a sizing to add body to … Read more

Mordant Monday: Kakishibu (Persimmon Tannin)

Kakishibu samples clockwise from top: paste resist by Kentaro Kojima, silk, cotton sashiko thread, cotton with iron, soda ash and kakishibu alone. Natural dyes are fascinating because we can see the history of human curiosity and imagination as it interacts with the natural world. Like, who looked at a hard, green, horribly astringent, inedible persimmon fruit and thought “You know, there’s probably an amazing, insect-repelling, anti-microbial, water-resistant, beautiful color in there if I just ferment it for a couple of years with a slice of eggplant.” Who, exactly? Whoever that clever person was, we have them to thank for one … Read more

Make a Natural Dye 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 not over dyed as you can create those colors with a … Read more

Mordant Monday: Chestnut, Fustic, Iron and Indigo

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

Mordant Monday: Myrobalan Magic

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 … Read more

Mordant Monday: Gallo Tannin, Fustic and Madder Gradation

This week’s Mordant Monday focuses on Gallo Tannin, also known as Oak Gall tannin, or Oak Galls. We used the extract made from Oak Galls in our gradation, but a similar result comes from oak galls that have been crushed or pulverized. Gallo Tannin is one of the ancient tannins with many uses, including making black ink, leather tanning, and in traditional Asian medicine. It is the most commonly used tannin when mordanting with tannin + alum, as the color it imparts is very light, and it doesn’t show a strong undertone, like sumac or walnut or other tannins with … Read more

Mordant Monday: Ceriops Tagal (No Mordant Required!)

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. At Botanical Colors, we recognize that the mangrove species is threatened due to widespread clearing of mangrove forests for timber, fish farming and other coastal activities. Ceriops Tagal is a product derived from tree bark that would otherwise be discarded. It is harvested and produced under conservation guidelines from the Forest Stewardship Council and provides income for remote villages. Indonesia is home to some of the largest mangrove forests in the world, and the Indonesian government … Read more

Mordant Monday: R U Mordant Curious?

For Mordant Monday, we answer your Mordant Questions and dive into everyone’s favorite topic: MORDANTS. Are you Mordant Curious? I received a great question about the mordants we carry. Like, you have so many. What is the difference? Does it really matter? Having a variety of mordant choices allows you as an artist to consider your materials before you start creating. For example: if you are dyeing a cellulose fabric, you can use aluminum acetate, or you can use a tannin pre-mordant and then apply aluminum sulfate as the mordant. They will give you different results. We’ve created a table … Read more

Mordant Monday: Spotlight on Sumac

Taking a little time to work more closely with tannins has been incredibly interesting! This week’s tannin exploration focuses on Sumac. Sumac is from the Rhus genus and its scientific name is Rhus coriaria. It’s native to southern Europe and western Asia where it is commonly known as Tanner’s Sumac or Sicilian Sumac. We are fortunate to have number of North American native sumac including Rhus glaubra, sometimes called Smooth Sumac, and Rhus typhina or Staghorn Sumac, known for its dramatic bright red berry clusters. The staghorn berries were used by indigenous people as a tea, and the bark, branches, … Read more