Tannin extract

You Asked, Kathy Answered: Tannin Printing

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’m considering adding a tannin to my order. But I have a question: does it make sense to tannin bathe an alum + washing soda print prior to dye bath? What I mean is scour > tannin bath > dry fabric > print pattern with mordant paste > dry > wheat … Read more

Our Top 8 Picks For The Most Durable Natural Dyes

We get asked A LOT about which are the most durable natural dyes in our shop. By durable, we mean dyes that excel in both light and washfastness. But as we always say to people when they ask us to point them in that direction, there’s lots of questions we have for YOU around your lifestyle and wash practices and natural dyes. For instance, do you use a harsh detergent? Do you wash your dyed clothing daily? Do you hang dry or put on high heat in the dryer? Is it a silk blouse or a cotton napkin? How often … 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: Emily Carris-Duncan of The Art Dept

This week’s FEEDBACK FRIDAY was with Emily Carris-Duncan of The Art Dept. Emily talked about the practice of using natural dyes to tell historical stories. As you all asked, Emily created this PDF for us of African American Quilt Researchers. Watch the video recording here: Emily says: “Much of my work is born out of a search for self and a desire to heal historical wounds. As a trans-racially adopted black queer, non binary person raised in modern America my story is incomplete, riddled with holes; a result of malicious neglect and the casualty of power, supremacy, domination, and shame. … Read more

Titania Inglis S/S 14 Takes Natural Dyes to New Levels

Last week at New York Fashion Week, Botanical Colors customer Titania Inglis, showcased her collection “Tessellation,” at the Standard hotel in Manhattan. For her S/S 14 collection, Inglis says she was particularly inspired by both the Danish-Icelandic installation artist Olafur Eliasson and renowned American architect and futurist Bucky Fuller. Botanical Colors was at the show alongside the fabulous textile artist and writer Abigail Doan who had this to say on The Wild magazine about Tessellation: “Her show’s angular silhouettes, laser cut patterns,  and prismatic tones seemed to lock together on the runway – layered in ways that toyed with modular … Read more

Field Wonderful’s Allison Lutes Trys Fresh Indigo Leaf Dyeing

You never know what people can and will do with the recipes and dyes we have for sale on the Botanical Colors site. When we saw what Allison Lutes (@fieldwonderful on Instagram), did with John Marshall’s “How To  Dye With Fresh Indigo”all we wanted to do was dye for days.

Video From LIVE FEEDBACK FRIDAY: A Verb For Keeping Warm

This week, we’ve got video from our live FEEDBACK FRIDAY featuring A Verb For Keeping Warm owner/founders Kristine Vejar and Adrienne Rodriguez. You might know Kristine from her book The Modern Natural Dyer. Watch the video recording here: RESOURCES: AVKW offers the following weekly meetups: + Wednesdays, noon-1pm PST – Verb Broadcast – showcasing items new to our shop as well as newly completed projects made with materials from Verb + Thursdays, noon-1pm PST – Maker’s Help – have questions about natural dyeing, knitting, sewing, etc? Come on over and trouble-shoot! + Fridays, 5-6:30pm – Maker’s Meetup – a casual … Read more

The Beginner Dye Kit: Fustic Greens

Fun Facts about the Fustic in our Botanical Colors’ Beginner Dye Kit: Fustic (Chlorophora tinctoria or Maclura tinctoria) is a tall tropical hardwood that grows from Mexico to Argentina. Fustic is high in tannic acid, which makes it an ideal cotton dye. In fact, it was used in the military to dye the color khaki during World War I. On cotton, it will dye a clear gold and on silk and wool it will dye gold to brown-gold. Fustic also provides a good base for other colors: indigo overdyed with fustic creates a khaki green; combined with madder and cochineal to make oranges; and mixed with … Read more

FEEDBACK FRIDAY Love Letters #3

Adire Eleko, 20th century Nigeria, Yoruba Factory woven plain weave cloth, cassava paste resist with indigo dye Gift of the Christensen Fund, Seattle Art Museum FEEDBACK FRIDAY has meant so much to Kathy and I, and we know it means a lot to you too. We so appreciate all the emails and notes you send weekly about how they help you through this time. So why not have a little series with some of your love letters that make us all feel the love of this natural dye community? Got something you’d like to share? Email me, Amy at [email protected]Read more

You Asked, Kathy Answered: Is Buckthorn Like Weld?

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: Hello I was looking to order a couple of your extract dyes, would buckthorn come out similar to weld on silk fabric? Also, do you have brazilwood and if not (I did not see any) what would you suggest to be close to this, on silk fabric? KATHY ANSWERED: I haven’t … Read more