Page 63 – Botanical Colors

MALVAR=STEWART’s BLUEPRINT Collection

Celeste Malvar-Stewart, the designer of Columbus, Ohio based MALVAR=STEWART creates “non-seasonal lines of women’s clothing,” using salvaged fabrics and local natural dyes that do not follow the standard fashion concept of “this season’s color palette.” They also focus on unconventional design that is thoughtful towards the environment at every stage of the garment’s life cycle, without compromising beauty, quality, and integrity that by nature is one-off. As original as Malvar-Stewart’s collection is, Fresh Cut TEXTILES led by founder/natural dyer Amanda Cinco-Hoyt. FcT is an independent natural dye studio located in Detroit, created by Cinco-Hoyt and fully inspired by color, texture, exploration … 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

Madison Wool and Wildwood Farm Host a Natural Dye Weekend

We had so much fun this past weekend in Madison, Connecticut at Madison Wool and Wildwood Farm’s natural dye weekend! Participants had their own personal natural dye journeys using both the classical, historical dyes and some surprising new ones (think walnut sludge and pokeberries). We also worked with some of Botanical Colors’ ancient raw dyestuffs such as cochineal, madder roots, walnut hulls and weld flowers. The group also learned about the secrets to obtaining the best color through chopping, simmering and carefully extracting natural dye tinctures. As an added bonus, we took a step outdoors to gather dyestuffs from the … Read more

EILEEN FISHER’s GREEN EILEEN Turns to Natural Dyes (That Means Us!)

GREEN EILEEN is an initiative of the EILEEN FISHER COMMUNITY FOUNDATION, a non-profit organization that supports systematic changes that positively impact women and girls around the world. The branch is a recycled clothing program that extends the life of timeless EILEEN FISHER garments which are re-sold at both the Seattle and Irvington, New York GREEN EILEEN stores and all money made goes to support the non-profit programs in which the company strongly believes in. Enter Botanical Colors. Kerri Ulloa of Seattle’s GREEN EILEEN holding an EILEEN FISHER tank top dyed using Botanical Colors’ very own Indigo While GREEN EILEEN is … Read more

DIY: Indigo Dye with Cara Marie Piazza

Our good friend and Botanical Colors customer, textile artist Cara Marie Piazza, was recently featured in Gardenista using our rich indigo. Writer Sophia Moreno-Bunge caught up with Cara in her studio and wrote: “Indigo is an ancient color, a natural dye extracted from a plant of the same name, and the only true blue dye in nature. It’s been found in ancient Egyptian mummy wrappings and was so valued by the Romans as a luxury product, the story goes, that the only people who knew how to dye with indigo were hidden away in the forest,” says Moreno-Bunge. “Because of … 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

Twelve Days of Color

This year, we chose twelve natural dye colors as our countdown to Christmas Day and received a number of requests to list them all in one place. The original post is linked to the dye name so click in order to see the information. Have as much fun with them as we did! Day 12 – Cochineal Day 11 – Weld Day 10 – Indigo Day 9 – Madder Day 8 – Chestnut Day 7 – Lac Day 6 – Fustic Day 5 – Quebracho Day 4 – Cutch Day 3 – Pomegranate Day 2 – Woad Day 1 … 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