Learning: Recipes, Instructions & More - Page 8 of 9

Easy Eco-Printing Instructions

I’ll admit I am a latecomer to eco-printing, but now find it quite useful to extending dyestuffs that have had one life making a dyebath, but the bulky residue and stuff that gets strained out is still full of color. I prefer used dyestuffs for eco-printing as there’s usually so much dye left in the ingredients and to me, they aren’t quite ready for the compost pile. Plus, once you open your eyes to the amount of color that’s around us, this is a simple way to try out colors you’ve been curious about. Experiment with raw dyestuffs, or tannin-rich … Read more

RECIPE: Living Coral, Pantone Color of the Year 2019

This year’s Pantone Color of the Year is a bright and lively coral shade called Living Coral (Pantone 16-1546). It’s a mid-tone shade and the natural dye version of it is very popular and easy. We like how madder extract will give you a beautiful shade.

We are teaming up with the Woods Hole Film Festival on Cape Cod to support their Science & Film Initiative and donating $5 for every madder extract order. This summer, the festival will formally launch the Woods Hole Film Festival Film and Science Initiative. The goal of the initiative is to provide opportunities to connect filmmakers and scientists to help them create films and other visual media that improve the public’s understanding of ocean science.

To see a current short film they’ve created on coral, go here and enter password nlp123.

FEEDBACK FRIDAY: This Week in Natural Dye Questions

This week: Bundle dyeing with zinnia flowers and a spotlight on, and recipe for, versatile wattle dye.

Easy and Fun DIY Indigo Dyed Easter Eggs

Here’s a fun way to do some easy DIY indigo-dyed Easter eggs! About Food says that “Easter falls in the spring, the yearly time of renewal, when the earth renews itself after a long, cold winter. The word Easter comes to us from the Norsemen’s Eostur, Eastar, Ostara and Ostar and the pagan goddess Eostre all of which include the season of the growing sun and rebirth. The ancient Egyptians, Persians, Phoenicians, and Hindus all believed the world began with an enormous egg, thus the egg as a symbol of new life has been around for eons.” I have always … Read more

blue yarn over an indigo vat in a white bucket

DIY Ombre Yarn!

We love this article by Scissor Variations on how to DIY dye yarn at home. Though the author suggests Dylon dyes, we’ll direct you here to all of our natural dyes that will help achieve the same results with much less toxicity. Check out the step by step process here and have fun (not to mention try not to drool from her beautiful pictures)! Image: Scissor Variations

Dyeing for Dummies: Natural Dye Poster Child-Indigo

Indigo has a long standing history of heavy-duty power in terms of economics and trade and is probably one of the most talked and written about dyes in the natural dye world. We love the color blue and all its moodiness. It’s also very in for fall 14. Get ready for the navy explosion! For this Dyeing for Dummies, I have put not only myself but husband and daughter in the cross hairs of looking foolish, over exuberant, and dummy-like. (Side note, they had a blast and refuse to be called dummies.) We used all of Botanical Colors’ dyes and … Read more

Recipe! Food Waste, Indigo and Natural Dyeing With Cara Piazza

This past Saturday I taught a natural dye workshop in the backyard of my friend’s Cyd and Neal’s vintage store – The Grand Street Bakery. A vintage store set in a converted old bakery, fully equipped with awesome vintage threads hanging on repurposed baking racks, stocked with natural apothecary, magazines and generally some of the best vintage buys you can find in New York. They also have an incredible backyard space so I thought a food waste workshop in a converted bakery with vintage oasis? Perfect. Working with donations from Reynard at the Wythe Hotel, and juice pulp from the … Read more

Dyeing For Dummies: The Wonders of Cochineal

Like I’ve said before, working for a natural dye guru like Kathy Hattori can give one an inferiority complex. I hate inferiority complexes for me or anyone else, so when feeling less than, I say take on the thing that most scares you (unless it’s skiing). In this particular case, I accepted the challenge of cochineal and a Tussah Silk Gauze Shawl that is also on the Botanical Colors site. In the instructions that Kathy gave me, it said to use a coffee grinder or spice mill to grind up 1 tablespoon of whole cochineal (for a dark red which … Read more

Dyeing For Dummies: The Mysteries of Walnut Hull Powder

Working for a natural dye guru can give a social media director and consultant (that’s me) an inferiority complex. In fact, when people ask me who I work for and I tell them, Kathy Hattori, a “natural dye guru,” and they say “Oh, you must be really good at dyeing,” all I can do is shrink back a bit and say, “I’ve only dyed once…and um, that was with Kathy.” The look of surprise too many times on people’s faces got me thinking, why WASN’T I trying to learn how to dye? Why was I letting Kathy and all her … Read more

Power Panties Rule

It’s so easy to brighten up your underthings with lush natural dye colors like cochineal, lac and madder. Materials Any natural fiber underthings – socks, camisoles or panties. Look for 100% cotton, Modal, Tencel, silk or bamboo fiber content. Fiber blends like wool/cotton or silk/cotton or nylon also work well. Microfiber, polyester and acrylic will not take the dyes. The dye process includes mordanting, then immersing in a dyebath, rinsing and drying and you are done! Safety A dust mask is recommended when measuring Aluminum Acetate as it is a fine powder that smells like vinegar and may be irritating. … Read more