Video From LIVE FEEDBACK FRIDAY: TATTER Library

This week’s FEEDBACK FRIDAY was with Jordana Munk Martin, Founder of the TATTER Library and it was so personal and beautiful and made our hearts explode. Thank you Jordana. Watch the video HERE. Links you should click to on the TATTER site: –TATTER Journal –Amazing TATTER classes & lectures –The Barbara Walker Knitting Project -Info on Jordana’s grandmother Edith R. Wyle -Info on Carol Westfall whose weaving book collection is at TATTER Shop all our blue here. From the site: “BLUE, The TATTER Textile Library, opened its doors in June of 2017. Serving as both an interactive, ongoing art-installation as … Read more

Video From LIVE FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Honeyfolk Clothing

This week’s FEEDBACK FRIDAY was with Heidi Iverson, Founder of Honeyfolk Clothing. Heidi was one of the original founders of Fibershed, an organization we love and respect so much. Watch the video recording here: Honeyfolk Clothing is entirely handcrafted by Heidi Iverson, in her studio surrounded by second-growth Redwoods in Western Sonoma County. She also devotes time to various forms of textile arts, primarily knitting and natural dyeing with plants and flowers she hand gathers or cultivates. While cutting pieces for the collection, all smaller off-cuts are set aside and re-used in various projects that require small pieces, like quilts … Read more

Video From LIVE FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Dyes of the Américas

This week’s FEEDBACK FRIDAY was with Botanical Colors’ President Kathy Hattori who talked about and demoed Dyes of the Américas. We went through some native colors from North, Central and South America that are included in our new dye kit, Dyes of the Américas, as well as some locally grown specialties from our network of dye growers. Watch the video recording here: We’ve been working with some of the culturally significant and historical dyes that are native to the Americas. Many of these colors date back to ancient indigenous people, some used as early as the second century BC by … Read more

FEEDBACK FRIDAY Highlights Video of 2020 (And Happy New Year!)

A FEEDBACK FRIDAY Highlights video? Yes! For 36 weeks, Kathy and I have brought you FEEDBACK FRIDAY where weekly we speak with dyers, artists, scientists and scholars about our favorite topic, natural dyeing and color. Curated and presented by Botanical Colors’ Founder Kathy Hattori and me, Amy DuFault, Botanical Colors’ Sustainability and Social Media Director, what started out as a way to connect with our community during the pandemic has turned into what’s almost like church for the thousands who have shown up. It’s pretty special to Kathy and I too. What inspiration have we garnered this year learning how … Read more

Video From LIVE FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Rowland Ricketts

This week’s FEEDBACK FRIDAY was with Rowland Ricketts where we talked all things indigo. Watch the video recording here: Shop all our indigo here. Visit our vast amount of indigo pages and how-tos. Make a 1-2-3 fructose indigo vat. Make a 1-2-3 henna indigo vat. Make a 1-2-3 Shakealotta indigo vat. Make a 1-2-3 iron indigo vat. Rowland Ricketts creates immersive installations using handwoven and hand-dyed cloth. His holistic artistic practice begins on his farm, where he cultivates the indigo plants he uses to color his artwork, fully linking his material and process with the finished product. Ricketts often incorporates … Read more

Video From LIVE FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Debbie Bamford

This week’s FEEDBACK FRIDAY was with The Mulberry Dyer’s Debbie Bamford who talked about all things Turkey Red. Watch the video recording here: Here are some things that Deb mentioned in her talk: The Dyer’s Company This is where Deb got her degree from, The Society of Dyers and Colorists TORM: The Original Reenactors Market That hood she wore has a tail and it is called a Liripipe Deb didn’t recommend this, but here is a reenactment pattern site Here are some links about turkey red that our co-host Brece Honeycutt used to learn more about it: West Dunbartonshire Council … Read more

Video From LIVE FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Melonie Ancheta

This week’s FEEDBACK FRIDAY was with pigment artist Melonie Ancheta. Melonie addressed what we can learn about cultures through the lens of pigments and what the study of pigments reveals about history and cultures. Watch the video recording here: Read Melonie’s FEEDBACK FRIDAY responses to all chat questions. About Melonie Ancheta has been studying pigments for more than 40 years, (traditional native pigments for more than 25), to analyze and properly identify pigments, and to assist museums, conservators, collectors, artists and scholars to determine the materials, tools and techniques used in traditional Native American paints. This information is used in … Read more

Video From LIVE FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Tali Weinberg

This week’s FEEDBACK FRIDAY was with weaver and climate activist Tali Weinberg. Tali is an artist who utilizes weaving, sculpture, thread drawing, and works on paper to visualize climate data. Tali presented her recent work responding to intertwined climate and health crises and talked about grief, water, oil, place, and weaving as text. Check out Tali’s website here. Watch the video recording here: ABOUT TALI: Tali Weinberg draws on a history of weaving as a subversive language for women and marginalized groups to create a feminist, material archive in response to worsening climate crisis. Her works merge practices of record … Read more

Seven swatches of blue fabric from very pale on the left to dark navy blue on the right

A Deep Dive into the 1-2-3 Indigo Vat

Indigo gradation from Aboubakar Fofana’s workshop on indigo.  The vat is a 7gpl fructose vat. Diving into indigo blue We have been working with the 1-2-3 indigo vat for nearly 10 years and over time made some adjustments to the original recipe from Michel Garcia. Here we share a recent experiment where we set up 4 different types of 1-2-3 vats and present the results. New instructions are linked below for each vat type with hints for a successful indigo vat!  You can also search our blog posts for information on indigo vats and answers to your many questions. Our … Read more

Video From LIVE FEEDBACK FRIDAY: 1-2-3 Indigo Vat

This week’s FEEDBACK FRIDAY was on the famous 1-2-3 indigo vat! Presenting this week? The best of the best, Botanical Colors Founder/President Kathy Hattori joined by Botanical Colors’ team member Kate Rosendale. Watch the video recording here: We get more questions about indigo than any other dye, so we decided to update our online information and also do a deep dive into the variations of the recipe based on Michel Garcia’s 1-2-3 indigo vat. we did some pretty extensive experiments with  fructose, henna and iron that you won’t want to miss. Botanical Colors’ team member Kate Rosendale and Kathy tested … Read more