Mordant Monday - Botanical Colors

Mordant Monday: Chalk and Madder Experiment

I just finished teaching A Nerd’s Guide to Mordants online this past weekend where we discussed the idea of adding minerals to the dye bath to develop deeper color. This is a technique that we’ve used in the PNW as our water is not very highly mineralized. Now many of the water sources in the United States are from groundwater sources that contain minerals like calcium and magnesium, and sometimes iron, so it’s easy to get rich reds from madder extract with little effort. However in Seattle, the water source is from snowpack and not from groundwater, so it’s somewhat … Read more

Mordant Monday: Pokeberry dyeing without a mordant

This Mordant Monday, I want to share a little bit about my pokeberry dye adventure this past week. Those of you who know me know that I was trained to mordant nearly everything (exception: indigo). Not mordanting something that needs a mordant usually elicits a shocked, silent, but oh-so-judgey raised eyebrow, so this post is a stretch for me. The interesting thing about pokeberries is that it’s possible to get a brilliant color by using wool yarn and white vinegar. No alum mordant is used in this technique. And vinegar is not normally considered a mordant. So here we are. … Read more

Mordant Monday: Tannin Extravaganza!

TANNIN A TIMELESS MORDANT 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 two back to back tannin workshops for you coming up in January! Build your swatch … Read more

Mordant Monday: Kakishibu (Persimmon Tannin)

Kakishibu samples clockwise from top: paste resist by Kentaro Kojima, silk, cotton sashiko thread, cotton with iron, soda ash and kakishibu alone. Natural dyes are fascinating because we can see the history of human curiosity and imagination as it interacts with the natural world. Like, who looked at a hard, green, horribly astringent, inedible persimmon fruit and thought “You know, there’s probably an amazing, insect-repelling, anti-microbial, water-resistant, beautiful color in there if I just ferment it for a couple of years with a slice of eggplant.” Who, exactly? Whoever that clever person was, we have them to thank for one … Read more

Mordant Monday: Middle Mordant in Toronto

Thank you to Rachel MacHenry and Gitte Hansen of Contemporary Textile Studio Co-operative for the lovely photos! I taught a one day workshop on middle mordant using Japanese dyes in Toronto on Friday, and had a great time with the students. This was the first time we’d tried the technique using only Japanese dyes that we extracted, and we also had a side trip into kakishibu which didn’t require any mordant, but made a beautiful shade. I’ve written about middle mordanting before: Catharine Ellis has a nice recipe and procedure in her book and Studio Notes, and I’ve also seen … Read more

Mordant Monday: Ceriops Tagal (No Mordant Required!)

Pictured here is our drying line from our recent tour to The Threads of Life Bali. The black pieces are Ceriops overdyed in Indigo. Today, we’re taking a look at Ceriops Tagal, a “red” tannin from Indonesia, and a color that is rich in history and traditional use. We are excited to present it to you again as it was one of our favorite dyes to work with while we were at The Threads of Life Bali. At Botanical Colors, we recognize that the mangrove species is threatened due to widespread clearing of mangrove forests for timber, fish farming and … 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

Mordant Monday: Morinda Roots and Our Time With Threads of Life

Usually for our Mordant Monday, we dive into a mordant topic, alas we’re in Bali and we have no idea what day it is! For this week’s blog post, we are changing it up as we’re feeling so nourished and inspired by our time in Bali, we needed to share it with you all. We’re drawing on the end of our trip and are gobsmacked by the kindness, patience and extensive knowledge the Threads of Life and their team are so graciously bestowing upon us. Here we share with you the process of learning about Morinda Roots and how they … Read more

Mordant Monday: Overdyeing: Indigo First, or Indigo Second?

We get mordant questions all the time at Botanical Colors so why not create Mordant Monday??? Got mordanting questions? Email [email protected] YOU ASKED: Do you always dye indigo first before overdyeing with another color? Does it make any difference? KATHY ANSWERED: When I was starting out, I was advised to dye with indigo first, rinse, mordant my fabric, and then dye with a mordant color second in order to create any type of compound color when indigo is involved. We largely agree with this as most of our production colors start with an indigo shade that we dip. We seem … Read more

Mordant Monday: Does Indigo Damage Mordants

We get mordant questions all the time at Botanical Colors so why not create Mordant Monday??? Got mordanting questions? Email [email protected] 2 light indigo dips on mordanted silk before immersing in exhaust dye baths to make pastels 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 about neutralizing indigo without discharging mordant? For some processes, I am … Read more