Our Botanical Colors How-To’s pages are a go-to resource and step by step guides for both seasoned and new dyers. Looking to learn how to work with natural dyes? You’ve come to the right place. We have developed an extensive list of instructional guides for all your natural dye needs.
Step by Step Instructions & How To Guides
Indigo dyeing
Indigo is a unique process and requires different processes than other dyes to be successful. See our instructions for different types of indigo vats below!
Indigo Instructions
Our indigo instructions originally used a recipe based on Michel Garcia’s 1-2-3 vat, created nearly 10 years ago. Since then, we’ve made some changes and developed different recipes that will allow you to control how light or dark your vat is. Types of Vats: There are three main types of vats that you can build. Use the indigo instructions below to decide which one is best for you. Vat type About Advantages Disadvantages Fructose Clearest blue Dyes lighter than henna or iron Seems to perform best when aged for 2-3 days, and when warmed before use. Henna Warmest blue/yellow cast … Read more
Hide Glue Indigo Vat Instructions
These instructions will help you understand how to use hide glue in an indigo vat. Hide glue is a protein based adhesive used in fine woodworking and antique restoration and for thousands of years was the most common woodworking glue until the invention of polyvinyl acetate and resin glues in the 20th century. It is made from animal skins, bones and connective tissue and is a tenacious adhesive yet also water soluble and non toxic and not hazardous. Artists use rabbit skin glue to size canvases. People also use it in bookbinding and to prepare certain art mediums. For textile … Read more
How to Dye with Fresh Indigo
A beautiful blue with ice water and just-picked indigo leaves Our thanks to John Marshall for this easy recipe on how to dye with fresh indigo! One of the delights of growing your own Japanese indigo is making fresh indigo leaf baths and dipping for that beautiful and elusive slightly turquoise shade. What makes it even more special is that it works great on silk, and the fabric really shows off the color. For this process you will need: Instructions You will need a generous armful of indigo stalks to dye a few silk scarves or yarns. Wool will also dye beautifully with fresh … Read more
How to Make a 1-2-3 Fructose Indigo Vat
The fructose 1-2-3 vat is one of the easiest indigo vats to set up and gives good color. I’ve found that it benefits from a few days aging to really develop a consistent and beautiful blue. A fructose vat will give you a clear blue color and is a good choice if you want to dye light to medium blue shades. Dark shades require multiple dips. Unsure about what type of vat you want to use? See our blog post about different vat types here! Shop the the Easy 1-2-3 Fructose Indigo Kit here! Getting Started Ingredients (Amounts are calculated below) … Read more
How to Make a 1-2-3 Henna Indigo Vat
A henna vat will give you a warm blue color as henna has a strong brown-orange undertone, and it influences the cool shades of blue. It is a good choice for dark blue shades. Henna vats get noticeably stronger after several days of rest once they are built and the vat will smell strongly herbal. The henna powder is quite bulky and goopy when it is hydrated, so we like to mix it separately with a generous amount of water and then strain it through a fine mesh sieve to remove any lumps before adding it into the vat. Unsure … Read more
How to Make a 1-2-3 Iron Indigo Vat
An iron vat will give you a cool blue-gray color. It is a good choice for dark blue shades. Once it is built, you can dip in this vat at room temperature without reheating it. If you want to dye wool or silk, do not use an iron vat as it damages protein fibers. Important safety note: Iron (ferrous sulfate) in high doses is unsafe for babies, small children and pets. It is not known if iron residue remains on the fabric and in the vat in amounts that could be of concern. Out of an abundance of caution, we … Read more
How to prepare fibers for dyeing
Before dyeing, you need to make sure your textiles are well prepared. Learn more below.
How to Mordant
Our How To guides are intended to make the mordant dye process easy, from scouring your fibers to dyeing with an assortment of dyes. You can find other How To guides here. What is Mordanting? Mordanting is the most important process of preparing fibers to accept color. A mordant is a mineral salt that fixes with the fiber allowing natural dyes to bond to it. For us it is the most important step to improve light and washfastness. Using a mordant helps to ensure the most durable and long-lasting colors. With the exception of indigo (as a vat dye, it … Read more
How to Scour
Our How To guides are intended to make the dye process easy for our customers, from scouring and mordanting your fibers to dyeing with an assortment of dyes. You can find other How To guides here. What is Scouring? “Scouring” is the textile term for cleaning fibers and removing sediment prior to mordanting and dyeing, and does not refer to washing fabrics in a washing machine. If the fiber is not clean, the mordant and dyes will not adhere well to the fiber. Fabrics sold as gray goods or “greige” require a thorough scour. Fibers need scouring if they feel … Read more
How to Mordant with Symplocos
Our How To guides are intended to make the mordant process easy, from scouring your fibers to dyeing with an assortment of dyes. You can find other How To guides here. What is Mordanting? Mordanting is the most important process of preparing fibers to accept color. Using a mordant helps to ensure the most durable and long-lasting colors. With the exception of indigo (as a vat dye, it does not require a mordant), this is not an optional step. (Check out our Q & A: Round Up of Mordanting + Scouring 101 here.) Most mordants are calculated based off of a percentage of the … Read more
How to Mordant with Aluminum Sulfate
Our How To guides are intended to make the mordant process easy, from scouring your fibers to dyeing with an assortment of dyes. You can find other How To guides here. What is Mordanting? Mordanting is the most important process of preparing fibers to accept color. Using a mordant helps to ensure the most durable and long-lasting colors. With the exception of indigo (as a vat dye, it does not require a mordant), this is not an optional step. Mordanting provides the dyer flexibility as fibers can be mordanted in advance, dried, and dyed later, or mordanted and dyed in … Read more
How to Mordant with Aluminum Acetate
Our How To guides are intended to make the mordant dye process easy, from scouring your fibers to dyeing with an assortment of dyes. You can find other How To guides here. What is Mordanting? Mordanting is the most important process of preparing fibers to accept color. Using a mordant helps to ensure the most durable and long-lasting colors. With the exception of indigo (as a vat dye, it does not require a mordant), this is not an optional step. (Check out our Q & A: Round Up of Scouring + Mordanting 101 here.) Most mordants are calculated based on … Read more
How to Mordant with Tannin and Alum
Mordanting with Tannin and Aluminum Sulfate is the traditional cellulose mordant and was widely used prior to the introduction of Aluminum Acetate or Aluminum Triformate. You may use Aluminum sulfate or Aluminum potassium sulfate. Both are commonly referred to as “alum”. Our How To guides are intended to make the dye process easy, from scouring your fibers to dyeing with an assortment of dyes. You can find other How To guides here. What is Mordanting? Mordanting is the most important process of preparing fibers to accept color. Using a mordant helps to ensure the most durable and long-lasting colors. With the exception of … Read more
How to Mordant with Aluminum Potassium Sulfate
Our How To guides are intended to make the mordant process easy, from scouring your fibers to dyeing with an assortment of dyes. You can find other How To guides here. What is Mordanting? Mordanting is the most important process of preparing fibers to accept color. Using a mordant helps to ensure the most durable and long-lasting colors. With the exception of indigo (as a vat dye, it does not require a mordant), this is not an optional step. Mordanting provides the dyer flexibility as fibers can be mordanted in advance, dried, and dyed later, or mordanted and dyed in … Read more
How to Mordant with Aluminum Triformate
Our How To guides are intended to make the mordant process easy, from scouring your fibers to dyeing with an assortment of dyes. You can find other How To guides here. What is Mordanting? Mordanting is the most important process of preparing fibers to accept color. Using a mordant helps to ensure the most durable and long-lasting colors. With the exception of indigo (as a vat dye, it does not require a mordant), this is not an optional step. (Check out our Q & A: Round Up of Mordanting + Scouring 101 here.) Mordanting with Aluminum Triformate Aluminum triformate is a room temperature mordant for … Read more
How to dye
Once your fibers are prepared, you’re ready to dye!
Natural Dye Extract Instructions
Natural dyes are a wonderful way to learn about the hidden colors in nature. We obtain yellow and purple from exotic dye woods, red from the cochineal bug and brown from a sweet-smelling resin. Follow the easy instructions below for best results and enjoy the color journey! Fiber Preparation and Mordanting Your fiber should be scoured and mordanted prior to dyeing. Visit our How To pages for information on scouring and mordanting instructions for wool, alpaca, silk (protein), cotton and plant (cellulose) fibers. Dyeing your Fibers Calculating the amount of dye that you need can be done by first weighing the material that you … Read more
Liquid Natural Dye Instructions
Our liquid dye instructions will help explain how to use Aquarelle and other liquid dyes. These dyes are convenient, easy to use, and produce beautiful, harmonious colors. Each dye comes from a leaf, root, bark or other natural source and has been used for generations by cultures all over the world. Cutch Liquid: A sweet-smelling brown. Himalayan Rhubarb Liquid: a rich gold from the rhubarb roots. This plant is also used in traditional herbal medicine. Liquid Logwood: a beautiful purple originally from Central America. Madder Liquid: one of the most ancient dyes. This is the red of Persian rugs. Myrobalan … Read more
How to Dye with Raw Materials
Different raw materials require different techniques. See our how tos for specific raw dye materials below.
Dye Flower Instructions
Flowers such as weld, coreopsis, dahlias, sulfur cosmos, marigold, sunflower and dyer’s chamomile are all considered dye flowers. Each of these plants will create various shades but their extraction techniques are similar. These instructions are for creating immersion dye baths. Fiber Preparation and Mordanting We offer scouring and mordanting instructions for wool, alpaca, silk (protein), cotton and plant (cellulose) fibers. Your fiber should be scoured and mordanted before dying. Creating and Using a Dyebath The amount of flowers needed ranges from 20-100% weight of fiber (WOF). Larger amounts of flowers will create darker and more saturated shades. If you are using fresh flowers, start … Read more
Tips For Dyeing With Marigolds
Ever wondered how to dye with marigold flowers? The humble marigold makes a beautiful and easy color that captures summer even when the weather is cold and gray. They brighten flower borders and are a companion plant in organic gardening. Marigold (Tagetes erecta) is native to Central America. The Aztecs used it as a flavoring ingredient for cacao. In Mexico, marigolds are also referred to as “Flor de Muertos” (Flowers of the Dead) and used in the Dia de los Muertos festivals and ceremonies. The deeply scented and brightly colored flower is believed to guide the spirits toward the elaborate … Read more
How to dye with Ceriops tagal
Ceriops tagal is a traditional South Pacific island nation dye, derived from the bark of the mangrove tree. Our dye originates from FSC forests and is a waste product from the timber harvest. Its manufacture helps keep local village economies thriving while maintaining cultural importance and environmental stewardship. Shop Ceriops tagal here. We acknowledge that mangrove forests worldwide are under pressure from clear cutting, aquaculture, bamboo and palm grove planting and environmental impacts of industrial and agricultural activities. Unchecked development will threaten these vital forests. We only source the dye from our trusted partner, Threads of Life. Threads of Life … Read more
From the blog
Our blog contains recipes for different colors and instructions for many different projects. We are regularly updating the website with recipes and how to guides, so please check back!
Foraging in the Fall
Foraging in the Fall This time of year, I am a greedy squirrel. I am constantly looking for acorns, walnuts, chestnuts, hazelnut hulls, little cones, and anything that I think might contain a tannin. Everything I find is windfall: lying on the ground and in abundance. I look for tannins that are almost completely unnoticed by the public, except possibly by other natural dyers. I wonder who else in my neighborhood is circling the same walnut tree, looking up and counting the number of bright green nuts left to fall. The number of tannins that you find is pretty amazing. … Read more
MORDANT MONDAY: What Mordant For Viscose?
YOU ASKED: I received some organic bamboo pillowcases that I would like to bundle dye. Per their website they are crafted from 100% viscose from organically-grown bamboo. Does viscose take color? If so, what is the best mordant to use to get the most vibrant and long-lasting bundle dyeing color? KATHY ANSWERED: Natural dyes work well with viscose, which is the name typically used for fibers extruded from cellulose material, such as bamboo and wood products using a chemical process. It’s sometimes referred to as “rayon” and can contain a number of difference cellulose bases. If you are planning to bundle dye, … Read more
Harmonious and Humongous Color…
Above: each row represents a rainbow that the teams dyed. From top to bottom: Gallo Tannin, Cutch and Myrobalan I just returned from a 5 day workshop at Sanborn Mills Farm, a favorite place to teach natural dye classes. They cultivate a full dye garden just steps away from the dye studio, and the entire farm, animals, historical buildings, teaching facilities and workshops are endlessly inspiring. My workshop started out with a challenging, but modest proposition that we work in three teams and create 12 colors for each team, 36 colors total. Each group chose a palette and we got … Read more
MORDANT MONDAY: Indigo & Discharging Mordants
Mordant Monday is our Monday blog where we provide information about the most important step in natural dyeing! We were feeling the Indigo fever after Britt Boles workshop – Fresh Indigo Five ways, so we revived (no indigo pun intended) this Mordant Monday about Indigo & discharging mordants. YOU ASKED: My question involves the processes of indigo dyeing when combined with other plant dyes that have been mordanted with aluminum acetate. My understanding is that citric acid discharges the mordant and also neutralizes the alkalinity of indigo as a last step in finishing indigo dyed cloth. How would you go … Read more
Mordant Monday: Spotlight on Quebracho Moreno
For this Mordant Monday, we are diving into Quebracho Moreno. Quebracho (Schinopsis balansae and Schinopsis lorentzii) is an evergreen tree that grows wild in South America. It grows mainly in Argentina and Paraguay in dense sub-tropical forests which also include a variety of other trees and vegetation. The name is due to its hardness, and comes from two Spanish words, quebrar and hacha, meaning “axe breaker”. In fact, quebracho has been used locally for posts, telegraph poles, bridge timbers, railway ties, paving blocks and for any construction where great durability is desired. Quebracho Moreno (we used to carry a Quebracho Rojo, so we called this one Moreno) … Read more
Mordant Monday: In the clutches of Cutch Dye
Cutch Dye 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 … Read more
Mordant Monday: Tannin Rainbow with Chestnut, Fustic, Iron and Indigo
Tannin Rainbow with 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 … Read more
Dye Easter Eggs With Natural Dyes
Everyone from kids to adults love to get their hands messy when they dye Easter eggs with natural dyes. This is a fun tutorial for adults and kiddos (parents help, please) to make a little Easter magic. First things first, let’s talk about health & safety: We always recommend working in a very well ventilated area. Although natural dyes are non-toxic, when using fine powders it’s best to wear a mask, and keep the windows open. Be mindful around little ones and pets as you don’t want anything going in mouths that shouldn’t be there. Also, when beginning to set … Read more
Mordant Monday: LIME GREEN
On this Saint Patrick’s Day, learn how to make this punchy lime green! We are pulling this exciting color back from our archives. Wink wink, you might remember it from this summer…Using weld and indigo, you can get awfully close to this punchy acid green. Natural dyes are often thought of as pastel or “soft” colors, but we’re here to help you make a hue that really packs a punch! This is the basic recipe Start with a mordanted cotton bandana, soak it in warm water for 30 minutes to thoroughly wet it out, and dip in a very light … Read more
Mordant Monday: Planting a Dye Garden
“the sunflowers themselves far more wonderful than any words about them.”― Mary Oliver, Upstream: Selected Essays Spring is coming so now is the chance to grow a few pots of your own color: dye flowers or indigo, or perhaps plant out some madder root for future harvest. Growing dye plants from seed is very rewarding, and you may have enough starts to share with your friends and community. There is a magic to walking outside and checking to see how the dye plants are doing. A few minutes inspecting, watering and talking to them is immensely calming. Watching the pollinators feast reminds … Read more
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