Page 16 – Botanical Colors

MORDANT MONDAY: Weighing Fabric For Mordanting

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’ve been weighing fabric before and after mordanting lately and noticed that the WOF changes slightly. For the recipes on the site, which weight is relevant for WOF? Post-scour, pre-mordant OR post-scour, post-mordant? KATHY ANSWERED: Our practice is to weigh the fabric prior to scouring and mordanting, so before we start any process on the fabrics. It is the first thing that we do so we can calculate the rest of our formulas during the dye process. YOU … Read more

Video From FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Jody Alexander

Last week on FEEDBACK FRIDAY we had mixed media artist Jody Alexander. In 2020, Jody made some life changes so that she could swim in lakes, and in 2023 she decided to make her open water swimming experiences into an art project. Aqua Lab is a work in progress that attempts to define the allure of open water swimming through the collection of data that includes water and air temperature, earth pigments surrounding the lakes, and underwater photos to capture water color. Watch the recording below. Take a class with Jody! Stitch, Patch, Dye: A Bag Making Workshop with Jody … Read more

Sunday Visit: Dyes, Quilting + Farming in Colorado’s High Desert With Farm & Folk

Today on Sunday Visit, we welcome Sara Buscaglia of Farm & Folk. Sara is an organic farmer, natural dyer and textile artist residing in the high desert of southwest Colorado. Her inspiration is found in the paradigm shifting slow processes of tending soil, seeds, and plants. Through her experience of being directly connected to food, natural color and fiber she has gained an understanding and appreciation of their true value. Her naturally dyed quilts are an embodiment of that. On September 26th, Sara debuted her first book Farm & Folk Quilt Alchemy: A High-Country Guide to Natural Dyeing and Making … Read more

You Asked, Kathy Answered: Hapa-Zome + Overdyeing Indigo

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 questions@botanicalcolors with your plea for help! YOU ASKED: When doing hapa-zome with fresh indigo leaves, do I need to treat the fabric with soda ash prior to hammering the leaves? KATHY ANSWERED: I have not heard about using soda ash with fresh indigo printing. The instructions and method that I’ve used is to get a piece of silk fabric, … Read more

MORDANT MONDAY: Dissolving Aluminum Acetate + Re-Mordanting

We get mordant questions all the time at Botanical Colors so why not create Mordant Monday??? Got mordanting questions? Email [email protected] YOU ASKED: My aluminum acetate often does not completely dissolve even with boiling water. Do you recommend putting the undissolved mordant in the vat with the fabric/textiles or would you strain? My assumption is that by excluding the undissolved mordant, one is reducing the amount used for the WOF. KATHY ANSWERED: Aluminum acetate is tricky to dissolve, but it should eventually dissolve. Sometimes I leave it overnight and it dissolves completely. I do not recommend putting lumps of undissolved … Read more

You Asked, Kathy Answered: Lackity Lac, Don’t Talk Back

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 questions@botanicalcolors with your plea for help! YOU ASKED: I just ordered some of that amazing fuchsia premium lac, I see on your dyeing guide it says to use citric acid for your regular lac, but there are no additional notes for the premium. So good to go just as it? KATHY ANSWERED: Premium Lac is already more purified than … Read more

MORDANT MONDAY: Mordanting To Make Green

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 just ordered both logwood and weld and want to get purple and green on wool yarn based on this information on your site. Do I need to do some pre-mordanting with alum? The website has the intriguing recommendation to use a bit of soda ash with neutral water, to get a better purple. Does this mean an acid pre-mordant would not be advised? It’s hand spun wool for warp so would be better slightly acidic rather than … Read more

Sunday Visit: Julie Beeler of Mushroom Color Atlas

For this week’s Sunday Visit we caught up with Julie Beeler of the Mushroom Color Atlas. Julie is a designer, artist, educator and Oregonian who grew up with a deep love for and curiosity about the natural world. Julie says she experiments with the unpredictability of plants and fungi by growing and harvesting, observing and foraging, as well as tethering herself to nature’s seasons. You might know remember Julie from her FEEDBACK FRIDAY presentation or her Mushroom Color Atlas poster and dye marks we sell. You might also just know here from taking one of her incredible classes. She has … Read more

You Asked, Kathy Answered: The pH of Indigo

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 questions@botanicalcolors with your plea for help! YOU ASKED: I set up an indigo vat a few weeks ago using fructose and lime. I dyed a few cotton items which worked well and now I want to dye some wool and silk. I’m having trouble lowering the pH. I’ve added more fructose but the pH is still 10.9. I tried … Read more

MORDANT MONDAY: How Do You Get That Really Red Cochineal?

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 sending a picture of cotton yarn dyed in cochineal and an exhaust bath of madder. I mordanted this with aluminum triformate but have gotten the same bad results using tannin, then alum with a bit of soda ash. I scoured this yarn very carefully and for at least an hour (boiling). Is there some special trick to dying cotton with cochineal? I get beautiful results with wool. KATHY ANSWERED: From what I can see in the … Read more