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MORDANT MONDAY: Non-Toxic Mordants + Brightening Color

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 sure you have received this question a bunch but I am curious, is the new cold water mordant Aluminum Triformate you are selling considered to be just as good as Aluminum Potassium Sulfate? Is it also considered to be just as “non toxic” as far as natural mordants go? KATHY ANSWERED: Aluminum triformate seems to work as reliably and well as Aluminum Potassium Sulfate. It is more acidic than APS, so we always rinse after … Read more

MORDANT MONDAY: A Plant-Based Option 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’m trying to make my natural dye practice completely plant-based, which also includes my mordant. I’ve used sumac and different nuts in the fall, tea and avocado pits, but do you sell a plant-based mordant? I still want to get great color and not all plant-based “mordants” are getting me to where I want to be. KATHY ANSWERED: We do! Symplocos is an exciting alternative that will give you the mordanting power as your base. We are … Read more

VIDEO From FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Zak Foster Quilts

Last week on FEEDBACK FRIDAY, we had the amazing, thoughtful, community building, textile whisperer, Zak Foster of Zak Foster Quilts. Raised in rural North Carolina and now living in Brooklyn, New York, Zak is a self-taught artist whose work draws on Southern textile traditions while incorporating found fabrics and natural dyes with an eye for sustainability. He practices an approach to design that is intuitive and improvisational and he is drawn to preserving the stories of quilts and specializes in memory quilts and burial quilts. His work has been featured in various magazines, websites, and galleries. His online community, The … Read more

Video from LIVE FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Aboubakar Fofana

This week, we’ve got video from our live FEEDBACK FRIDAY featuring Aboubakar Fofana. We got to take a walk through Aboubakar’s art and life’s work through a visually stunning slideshow as well as a mini-film featuring his farm in Mali, West Africa. We’ve never had more emails thanking us for giving access to such an inspiring human, and presentation as well as how honored they felt to be part. Thank you again Aboubakar. WATCH THE RECORDING HERE: Below is the introduction from today we didn’t have in the recording (because we almost forgot to record!) Many have asked how to … Read more

Three Color Ideas For the Start of Autumn

Here’s a palette with natural dye recipes suitable for that end of summer transition where the light turns golden and the air cools. The Orange Red reminds us of the underside of a liquid amber leaf; the Bright Olive is a neutral, gray-green, and the Creamy Beige is surprising in that we don’t often think about dyeing light tan shades, but this one is easy and elegant. Orange Red (on silk fabric) 15% Aluminum sulfate mordant 4% madder extract Bright Olive (on cotton muslin) 5% Aluminum Acetate mordant 5% pomegranate extract 2% marigold mix extract 1%rich logwood purple Creamy Beige … Read more

In the News: Botanical Colors on Toxic Color in Fashion

Carolyn Higgins of the Seattle Globalist recently featured Botanical Colors founder Kathy Hattori on toxic textile dyeing. Carolyn writes: “Your soft cotton tee shirt is the ultimate warm fuzzy. Snuggling gratefully into its soft fibers, you feel virtuous about buying a product that was made of natural organic materials. Think of all those barrels of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers that weren’t sprayed on foreign cotton fields thanks to you. Think of the smiling cotton farmers in Turkey and India growing those pure white organic tufts for you to snuggle into. Sigh. Bet you a tidy sum that the label boasting of organic fiber … Read more

Supermarket Colors: Amazing Dyes Just Waiting To Be Found

This fun article on Sweet Paul Magazine is a fresh look at how common food dyes found around the home as well as natural dyes can work together. (Just the photography had us hook, line and sinker…) We’ve recently put up new dye instructions on the site including this easy indigo vat recipe so go explore and see what fun new projects you can come up with!

A Pantone Inspired Airbnb Fit For Color Enthusiasts

We haven’t acknowledged the Pantone color of the year enough so we’re glad to see others who are and in the most fun of applications. Stay tuned for a natural dye recipe we’ll be creating soon where you can achieve this color for your own design projects. According to Dezeen, “Pantone has collaborated with Airbnb to fill a London home with planting and projects that match its verdant 2017 colour of the year. “Pantone had announced the tone which it describes as a “tangy yellow-green”, as its pick for colour of the year in Decembe 2016. The annual selection is … Read more

Thanksgiving Day Natural Dyeing With Food Waste

Image: Vogue This Thanksgiving Day, why not do what you love and natural dye with food waste while you cook up your mid-day feast? According to Vogue, “With so many color-rich foods on most Thanksgiving menus, Vogue.com decided to get a lesson in natural food coloring, and create a set of eco-chic napkins that can be made in tandem with the holiday meal. As it turns out, the palette procured from turkey-day cuisine is very seventies: Cranberries produce a range of colors from poppy to dusty rose, onion skins tone silk lime and ochre, beet stalks boil into muted moss, … Read more

You Asked, Kathy Answered: Indigo For Soap Making

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: Indigo is often used as a natural colorant in soap making and I have been using your organic indigo powder for the past couple of years. As I’ve been researching about processing my fresh indigo plants to turn into powder I’ve started wondering about using indigo powder for soap making and … Read more