Blog - Page 24 of 66 - Botanical Colors

Video From FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Water, Sediment & Color With Minnesota Fiber Artist Moira Bateman

For our first FEEDBACK FRIDAY of 2023, we welcomed Minneapolis-based fiber and textile artist, Moira Bateman. Moira guided us through a beautiful presentation of her work and a deep look at water, sediment and color. Watch the recording below. Follow Moira here: Website Instagram Ecoartspace article Her exhibits that launch on January 5th and another on January 17th Artist’s Biography: Moira Bateman creates assemblages from waxed silk, dyed with tannins and waterway sediments. Her chosen fabrics are soaked for days, months, and even years in the waters, mud, and sediments of rivers, lakes, and bogs of Minnesota. Past collaborative projects … Read more

Video From FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Mapping Color With Sasha Duerr + Maibe Maroccolo

For our last FEEDBACK FRIDAY of 2022, we welcomed Brazil-based artist and educator Maibe Maroccolo of Matricaria who is mapping color with Brazil’s dye plants and Sasha Duerr, an artist and designer who also maps color with plant-based palettes, natural dyes and place-based recipes. It was such an emotional and wonderful presentation highlighting both women’s connection to color through memory, place, love, experiences and through a deep appreciation for biodiversity. Watch the recording below. Sasha Duerr is an artist and designer who works mapping color with plant-based palettes, natural dyes and place-based recipes. She is a professor at the California … Read more

VIDEO: FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Narayan Khandekar + Porfirio Gutíerrez

Last week on FEEDBACK FRIDAY, we had presenters Narayan Khandekar who oversees the Forbes Pigment Collection in conversation on color and restoration with Zapotec Textile Artist + Natural Dyer Porfirio Gutíerrez. The two had mini-presentations of their work and then engaged in a wonderful and intimate conversation about color coming from their own unique work.

Video From FEEDBACK FRIDAY With Rosalind Wyatt & Christi Johnson

This week’s FEEDBACK FRIDAY was with alumnae Rosalind Wyatt & Christi Johnson. The two discussed the importance of getting centered with hand stitching, the power of embellishment and why we stitch and dye. Though a different format for a typical FEEDBACK FRIDAY, this conversation between the two artists was inspiring. If you saw Rosalind Wyatt and Christi Johnson on their individual FEEDBACK FRIDAYS, you know this was a great match up!

blue and white fabric dyed with radiating white circles

How To Make 3 Easy Shibori Resists

These three, easy shibori techniques work best with indigo, but can be used with other natural dyes as well. With all three techniques, before you begin, prepare your workspace for a messy process. Cover the surface you plan to work on with something you don’t mind getting wet and dirty and wear an apron and gloves. The Scrunch Dye your fabric in your dye of choice! After dyeing, rinse the bundle gently. Then remove the rubber bands and open up the fabric bundle. Rinse again until the water runs clear. Air dry away from direct sunlight. The Honeycomb Dampen your … Read more

yellow-green fabric in a stainless steel dyepot

Making Green with Logwood and Weld

It’s not often that you can combine yellow and purple to make green, but weld extract and logwood will yield interesting results, depending on the strength of the weld and logwood combination. We have tested this on wool and our recipes are as follows. Feel free to experiment with other fibers and proportions of dyes! Chartreuse Use 3% weld on the weight of fabric (WOF) and dissolve in hot water. Do not add any auxiliaries such as calcium or soda ash. Measure and add 0.25% WOF logwood extract to the weld and stir well. Add this mixture to a dye … Read more

Video From FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Holiday Kitchen Color

This week on FEEDBACK FRIDAY, was pretty ridiculous (but fun!) with Botanical Colors President Kathy Hattori and Communications Director Amy DuFault to talk holiday kitchen color. We explored all the colors you can achieve just from holiday dinner from food like purple cabbage, onion skins, organic marigolds, cranberries and pomegranates, to holiday color from extracts like our U.S. grown madder root and chlorophyllin. When you watch the video, check out the chat on the side to see lots of links we provided for colors we didn’t cover but that are still possible. Watch the video recording below. FEEDBACK FRIDAY If … Read more

Video From FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Beam Paints

Last week on FEEDBACK FRIDAY, we had Anong Beam of Beam Paints. Anong says her business is the result of a multi-generational love of pigment, paint, color, and innovation. “I was raised by my artist parents, Carl Beam and Ann Beam, and was taught from a young age how to harvest hematite pigment in the LaCloche mountain range near our home in M’Chigeeng First Nation on Manitoulin Island.” Beam Paints draws on Anong’s early education in Indigenous pigment and expands it to encompass all paint traditions. She talked about the progression of her craft, her love of color, and more. … Read more

FEEDBACK FRIDAY Video: Textile Artist Tenzin Tsomo

On our last FEEDBACK FRIDAY we welcomed Tenzin Tsomo, a textile artist and designer based in Seattle, Washington. Her presentation looked at key moments in the history of Tibetan rug weaving in Nepal, from a coveted skill kept within families in Tibet to the dissemination of that indigenous craft knowledge to Tibetan refugees and local Nepali artisans of recent. While weaving has transformed the lives and economy of many communities, the technique itself has been diluted down in the last couple of decades to cater to the ruthless demands of capitalism. Watch the video recording below. About Tenzin Tsomo:Tenzin launched … Read more

Video: Live Q&A On Aquarelle Liquid Dyes

We have lots of people that buy our Aquarelle liquid dyes and just as many with questions on how to use them. Each Aquarelle liquid natural dye is pre-extracted from a leaf, root, bark or other natural source and can combine easily to produce beautiful shades. They can also be used to thicken with Print Paste Thickener for printing, painting and other surface design applications.Watch the video recording here to learn something new! FEEDBACK FRIDAY questions on liquid dyes: Do you mix your liquid dyes together in the pot or always dye one first then overdye with the darker color? … Read more