Blog - Page 18 of 60 - Botanical Colors

Video From FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Keith Recker’s Deep Color: The Shades That Shape Our Souls

Last week on FEEDBACK FRIDAY, we welcomed writer, editor and trend and color forecaster Keith Recker who talked about his new book Deep Color: The Shades That Shape Our Souls. Drawing from chapters in his soon to be released book Deep Color, Keith’s talk looked at the positive and negative layers of meaning maintained by black, red and blue. Through examples from history both remote and recent, the messages telegraphed by these colors become clearer and more interesting! These three colors are just a preview of Deep Color, which runs through nine color families, but in the q&a period, we … Read more

Video From Live FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Mushrooms + Textile Design With Ximena Curiel

Last week on FEEDBACK FRIDAY, we welcomed Ximena Curiel who told us a personal story about her path as an artist and all about her exciting work with mushrooms and textile design! Ximena Curiel is a Product designer with a MSc in Biomimicry currently performing field and laboratory research on fungal pigments. Ximena says since she was young, “she experienced the kindness of nature, while growing up in the jungles of southeast Mexico.” From first hand observations, she’s watched how ecosystems have degraded while her love for all living things lead her to nurture connections between biology and design. She … Read more

Video From FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Social Artist + Activist Ellie Irons

Last week on FEEDBACK FRIDAY, we welcomed socially engaged artist and educator Ellie Irons. Ellie talked about her Feral and Invasive Pigments project, a public fieldwork, writing, and studio-based project that revolves around making watercolor paint from the leaves, petals, and berries of the spontaneous plant beings (aka weeds) who thrive in areas heavily impacted by urbanization, industrialization, and climate change. Watch the recording below. Links: Instagram Website About Ellie Irons: Ellie Irons is an artist and educator living and working on Mohican land in current-day Troy, New York, USA. From foraged watercolor paintings to un-lawning experiments, her work combines … Read more

Video From FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Maibe Maroccolo of Matricaria Maps Brazilian Dye Plants

Last week, we welcomed Brazil-based artist and educator Maibe Maroccolo of Matricaria who is mapping Brazil’s dye plants. Maibe’s most recent work has been focused on mapping and sharing both the wisdom of plants from Brazil and preserving the traditional methods of their uses. Her mapping project has become official as the Research Project of Flora Brasileira Tintorial. Watch the recording below. All links to Maibe Maroccolo: Website Instagram Facebook YouTube Pinterest About Maibe: Maibe is an artist and educator. She holds a masters in sustainable development from the University of Arts London. After a period of studies and specializations … Read more

How To: The Mason Jar Method for Solar Dyeing

We’ve put together this easy Mason jar method for solar dyeing! Use these tips all summer long for a fun, energy and water-saving way to create color! The jars featured here are filled with our fruitwood chips (apple, cherry and peach) and on sale until next week! Equipment and ingredients for the Mason jar method for solar dyeing: -1 wide-mouth, 32 ounce (1 quart) glass Mason Jar with lid. You can also use any heat-resistant large glass jar. If your fiber doesn’t fit easily into the jar, you can use a wide mouth 64 ounce (2 quart) jar or larger … Read more

VIDEO From FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Marta Abbott

Last week was our 100th episode of FEEDBACK FRIDAY and we welcomed Rome-based, Czech-American artist Marta Abbott. Marta uses “organic, botanical materials to extract and convey that which she finds essential to the human experience of nature and beauty. Marta does this through combing concept with intuition, elements of control with those of contained chaos, and with eyes scanning both earth and sky, seeking ways to interpret that which links the two.” Watch the recording here: Marta’s website Instagram In the Studio: Marta Abbott Shop our dye inks here! ARTIST STATEMENT Marta Alexandra Abbott is a Czech-American artist in Rome. … Read more

Celebrate Juneteenth Through The Stories of 8 Black Natural Dye Artists

This year, as we celebrate and honor the (now federally recognized) Juneteenth holiday, we look back on the stories eight black, natural dye artists have shared with us. As we all continue to learn and grow from these stories, we urge you to reach out within your regional natural dye and fiber communities to usher in more diversity. If we have learned anything from FEEDBACK FRIDAY, it’s that we can tell so many stories through natural dyeing that gather more people, not always our choir, to get a little closer to us to just listen…and hopefully sing. About Juneteenth: From … Read more

Construction Techniques with Aboubakar Fofana: Create a Pair of Stripcloth Trousers

Video From Aboubakar Fofana (LIVE) Bamako Studio Tour!

Last time on FEEDBACK FRIDAY, we welcomed back Malian artist, educator, indigo farmer and friend, Aboubakar Fofana. Aboubakar took us for a live tour of his Bamako studio where we saw him harvest indigo, do some indigo dyeing, got to meet his artisans and see all the amazingness that is Aboubakar on his home turf. We received so many nice emails from people expressing how wonderful this episode was. You won’t want to miss it. More about Aboubakar and his summer residency with us: Botanical Colors is pleased to announce that we are hosting Aboubakar Fofana for a month-long 2022 … Read more

VIDEO From FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Zak Foster Quilts

Last week on FEEDBACK FRIDAY, we had the amazing, thoughtful, community building, textile whisperer, Zak Foster of Zak Foster Quilts. Raised in rural North Carolina and now living in Brooklyn, New York, Zak is a self-taught artist whose work draws on Southern textile traditions while incorporating found fabrics and natural dyes with an eye for sustainability. He practices an approach to design that is intuitive and improvisational and he is drawn to preserving the stories of quilts and specializes in memory quilts and burial quilts. His work has been featured in various magazines, websites, and galleries. His online community, The … Read more

Create Your Natural Dye Garden As Easy As 1-2-3!

You can totally create your natural dye garden as easy as 1-2-3 with tried and true dye plants that will keep giving all summer. It’s spring on Cape Cod. Catbirds, orioles, and osprey have returned and bees hover in the flowers of my rosemary shrub. The seeds I started in winter have now grown up, ready to graduate to the big leagues outside in the garden. The decision of where to place them is like placing pieces of a puzzle: how much sun lands here? how much water will this one need? how tall does this variety grow? And each … Read more