Cara Piazza, Author at Botanical Colors

Sunday Visit: Katrina Rodabaugh, Mending Matters

Sunday Visit is our interview series where we speak with an incredible maker in our community and learn about what makes them tick. Katrina Rodabaugh is an author and artist working at the intersection of sustainability, craft, and design. Using visible mending, natural dyes, and textile redesign in fashion, art, and home. She combines her training in sustainability with her experience in fiber arts to build eco-friendly solutions for modern lives. We sit down with her to learn about her practice. Katrina, you have been a friend of BC for a long time. Tell us a little bit about your … Read more

Sunday Visit: Ryan Scails Nuance & Materiality

For Sunday Visit, We are excited to sit down with the multi-hyphenate Ryan Scails. Based in Philadelphia, PA he examines the nuances of materiality within the built world and how intentional shifts in details can give humans context in ways that confront the limits of their bodies. By using fiber to create hyper specific structural relationships, his work highlights the potential in substantive engagements between the human body and our environment. In a manner that leans heavily on the sequential harmony of physical labor his work seeks to foreground pre-colonial technologies by riffing on fractured schematics, glyphs, and vernacular tools … Read more

SUNDAY VISIT: Kristin Arzt & Her World of Rainbows

Sunday Visit is our interview series where we sit down with a luminary, visionary and creative in the Natural Dye world. We want to bring you the best of what is out there and show off all of the amazing work being done in our community. This week we sit down with Kristin Arzt, who we fell in love with when she made her incredible rainbow coveralls. We catch up with the new mama, and learn all about her practice and what makes her tick. Tell us all about you! How did your practice come to be? I’ve always been drawn … Read more

Mordant Monday: How do I dye Green?

We receive a lot of questions about our favorite subject of natural dyes and two questions that I thought might be interesting to share are: – How do I dye jute or burlap? – How do I dye green? We detail information from each question and there are lots of links with how-to and recipes for further exploration! DYEING WITH JUTE Jute is a fiber from the Corchorus plant, and the largest global jute-producing region is West Bengal, India, and Bangladesh. Jute is an annual plant, rapid-growing, and produces long fibers in its stalk, similar to linen and hemp. The … Read more

Mordant Monday: A Rainbow Compilation!

We wanted to compile all of our rainbow tutorials so you could have access to them all in the same place. We love creating them for you, and seeing the beautiful creations you make with your tutorials. Tannins provide a rich base for creating a rainbow of color. Please tag us on social media so we can see what you make! Try making the rainbow yourself!

Mordant Monday: Tannin Extravaganza!

TANNIN A TIMELESS MORDANT For Today’s Mordant Monday, we are highlighting all things tannin. 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, they are the natural dyer’s not-so-secret-weapon to beautiful color. For the natural colorist, tannins provide a rich base for unusual and eye-catching combinations, and they’re particularly effective on plant fibers such as cotton and linen. We have a variety of tannins for … Read more

Sunday Visit: Jasen Bowes of ELSEVVHERE

We are excited to introduce you to the man behind our new offering of mordanted T-shirts and blanks. Jasen Bowes of ELSEVVHERE. Jasen Bowes is passionate when it comes to the planet, design, and food. A multi-hyphenate whose creative work is driven by a connection and commitment to the natural world, Jasen strives to highlight ways to work with materials from nature that can be recycled completely or can offer many alternative uses. He has years of fashion industry experience leading him to create a great product we’re excited to present to you. What initially drew you to the medium … Read more

Sunday Visit: Ceilidh Chaplin of BillyNou

Sunday Visit is our interview series where we sit down with a luminary, visionary and creative in the Natural dye world. We want to bring you the best of what is out there and show off all of the amazing work being done in our community. This week, we have Ceilidh Chaplin of BillyNou. Ceilidh rose to notoriety with her incredible YouTube Channel she created with her partner. She has an organic and whimsical aesthetic to her practice and takes us along on her journey. Read more to learn about her relationship to motherhood, ice dyeing and not being too … Read more

Sunday Visit: William Ingram and Jean Howe of Threads of Life Bali

A little backstory from Kathy: I’ve known Jean and William for many years through their trunk shows held in Seattle, where they’d speak about their cultural and natural dye projects in Bali as well as bring an array of incredible traditional textiles to view and purchase. From the beginning, I was impressed how they always put the weavers and communities front and center to their work. The quality and breadth of the textiles is exceptional, and the Seattle Art Museum acquired a dozen pieces for the Ikat exhibition in 2023. We’re honored and excited to work with them for this … Read more

Mordant Monday: Sneak Peek on Hand Painting Yarns and Fiber

For this MM (posting on Tuesday because what is time anyway?) we wanted to get you excited about some new mordanted yarn offerings we are launching in the upcoming weeks for the holiday season. In case you didn’t know, Kathy is an incredible yarn dyer and we wanted to share with you some of her fun tips on creating beautiful rainbow creations on yarn and fibers. With our mordanted yarn bases, you will be able to create your own color palettes and personalize yarns for your own projects! Getting started We will offer detailed instructions for basic yarn painting once … Read more