Page 13 – Botanical Colors

MORDANT MONDAY: Is Aluminum Acetate A Better Mordant Than Aluminum Sulfate?

We get mordant questions all the time at Botanical Colors so why not create Mordant Monday??? Got mordanting questions? Email [email protected] YOU ASKED: For plant fibers I was taught to use aluminum acetate for the mordant and then rinse in calcium carbonate to neutralize the acetate. That extra step is minor, but I’m wondering whether aluminum acetate is a better mordant than aluminum sulfate. It sure is more expensive! KATHY ANSWERED: Yes, that is the mordant process that we use as well. I don’t think that aluminum acetate is necessarily a better mordant, but it does have some strengths over … Read more

You Asked, Kathy Answered: Indigo To Get Green + A Ruined Vat

We get lots of emails from customers about challenges with dyeing and needing Botanical Colors’ President Kathy Hattori’s help. Why not share the learning so we can all benefit? From our inboxes to you, it’s simple: You Asked, Kathy Answered. Email [email protected] with your plea for help! YOU ASKED: I am curious how to achieve a light shade of blue green with natural dyes and am assuming it would be dyed first with weld and then over-dyed with a few dips of indigo? Is there a natural dye that will do the same in one step? KATHY ANSWERED: We like to … Read more

Sunday Visit: Artist & Author Anna Brones

For this week’s Sunday Visit, we catch up with Pacific Northwest writer, artist, and educator Anna Brones. Anna works as a papercut artist, hand cutting illustrations from single pieces of paper. Her papercuts have taken many forms and her illustrations have been featured in books like Extra Helping and The Joy of Cooking, and in 2020, her Women’s Wisdom Project, a collection of 100 different papercut portraits of modern and historic women, was displayed at Vashon Center for the Arts. In 2022, in collaboration with her husband Luc Revel, she completed a permanent public art installation for the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial. She … Read more

You Asked, Kathy Answered: Getting Logwood To Be Lightfast

We get lots of emails from customers about challenges with dyeing and needing Botanical Colors’ President Kathy Hattori’s help. Why not share the learning so we can all benefit? From our inboxes to you, it’s simple: You Asked, Kathy Answered. Email [email protected] with your plea for help! YOU ASKED: Thank you so much for all your wonderful information about plant dyes. I was wondering if I have to heat up wool yarn in the logwood dye bath? Is the heating process necessary to protect the lightfast properties or to achieve a deeper color? If I would like to use the same … Read more

The Dogwood Dyer: Dyeing with Thanksgiving Leftovers!

The Dogwood Dyer knows food waste and is a master at turning what most would throw away, into things of beauty. We asked Liz Spencer, the driving force behind The Dogwood Dyer, if she could put together a how-to for us using onion skins. She came back to us with this Dyeing with Thanksgiving Leftovers: An Artful Approach to Onion Skins tutorial.If you follow Liz, you know she offers an amazing subscription called A Year In Natural Dyes. This month it’s all about food waste and what you see below is just the tip of the iceberg! Sign up to … Read more

MORDANT MONDAY: Color Bleeding + Pickling Vegetables With Aluminum Acetate?

We get mordant questions all the time at Botanical Colors so why not create Mordant Monday??? Got mordanting questions? Email [email protected] YOU ASKED: I am new to dyeing and am hoping you can provide some knowledge. I have mordanted and dyed a cotton sheet with oak gall, cutch and ferrous sulfate. I sprinkled citric acid to remove some color while the fabric was drying. If I now bathe the fabric in calcium carbonate will the color change? If so in what way? Currently the dye is coming off on my hands when I handle the fabric. Should I iron? Should … Read more

Video From FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Liz Spencer + Katrina Rodabaugh

Our last FEEDBACK FRIDAY was a huge milestone for us as we prepared for our second to last ever FEEDBACK FRIDAY, featuring dear friends as well as alumnae, Katrina Rodabaugh and Liz Spencer. Watch the video recording below. The two shared mini presentations and then had a conversation together and with attendees on being caretakers as well as creatives. What are the challenges and successes to following our creative journey in natural dyes? When does a passion become work and what are some of the boundaries that we need to set to keep balance? Katrina and Liz tackled all these … Read more

You Asked, Kathy Answered: Dyeing With Walnut Hulls

We get lots of emails from customers about challenges with dyeing and needing Botanical Colors’ President Kathy Hattori’s help. Why not share the learning so we can all benefit? From our inboxes to you, it’s simple: You Asked, Kathy Answered. Email [email protected] with your plea for help! YOU ASKED: I have tried several times to dye cotton with black walnut husks, but the color always seems to wash out. I collect husks, boil them, strain them and add fiber. Sometimes I’ve pre-treated it in alum. Other times not. The color, which in the vat is a deep brown washes out. … Read more

MORDANT MONDAY: Aluminum Acetate + Calcium Carbonate Before Dyeing?

We get mordant questions all the time at Botanical Colors so why not create Mordant Monday??? Got mordanting questions? Email [email protected] YOU ASKED: I’m confused. Your directions for mordanting with aluminum acetate say to mordant, place fibers in dye pot, then . . . do the calcium carbonate bath then dye – what is the correct order? “Remove, rinse lightly and proceed to dyeing. Calcium carbonate can shift dye colors due to its higher pH, so we like to rinse it prior to use.” KATHY ANSWERED: You mordant with aluminum acetate, and when it is done, remove from the aluminum … Read more

Sunday Visit: Porfirio Gutiérrez & The Responsibility of Tradition

This week for Sunday Visit , we catch up with Porfirio Gutiérrez, a Contemporary Zapotec American textile artist based in Ventura, California, and Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca. Porfirio Gutiérrez comes from a long line of traditional Zapotec weavers, and his art practice remains dedicated to the deep knowledge and spiritual dimensions of his ancestors. He uses traditional Zapotec knowledge of dyes and materials and reinterprets Zapotec weaving language to create pieces that speak to his creative vision of the complexity of the Americas. The story of his art has been told in The New York Times, PBS, and the BBC … Read more