Blog - Page 2 of 64 - Botanical Colors

Mordant Monday: Tannin Workshop Review

Mordanted fat quarters in iron, marigold, indigo, marigold+indigo, logwood, logwood+ indigo, logwood + marigold and logwood + marigold+ indigo. Both Cara and I taught new online workshops about tannins and natural dyes this month. Cara introduced Tannin Grayscale, a fascinating look into using iron and tannin to create a rich range of deep and moody neutrals. I had envisioned that this would be a workshop on gray, gray and more gray, but the surprise was that her techniques create some beautifully saturated shades. My workshop was Tannin Rainbow, where I concentrated on combining different tannin mordanted fabrics with natural dye … Read more

RSVP for BOTANICAL COLORS’ COMMUNITY GATHERING

Join us this week, January 24, 9am PT/Noon ET for our first ever Community Gathering. We kick off our event with the intention of welcoming you into a textile community to provide encouragement, listening and connection. We are here for each other and as act of determination and hope. To participate, click the link to RSVP and Zoom will send you the login information. Can’t wait to see you all! RSVP HERE

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

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

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