Page 65 – Botanical Colors

Gone Woading

This past May, Botanical Colors was honored to host woad master Denise Lambert of Bleu de Lectoure for a weekend of woad dipping using the ancient blue dye of Europe that she and her husband revitalized in France. She brought her charming assistant, Sophie Boss and they worked their woad magic in Seattle. We started our woad adventure in my studio, measuring, stirring and a bit of praying. Seventeen mother vats for Saturday and 15 for Sunday. Once the vats were mixed, we left them overnight to rest. What a time it was woading! We started early in the … Read more

I’m the guest blogger for Cotton Clouds this month

I’m the guest blogger for the month at Cotton Clouds. Check out their new EZ Dye kits using a non-toxic pretreated cotton that takes natural dyes beautifully with no mordanting! The colors are so interesting – a slightly different palette than other natural dyes on cotton – these tones will go beautifully with most interior colors. The toothy cotton yarn is perfect for weaving 6 generously sized table napkins that are ideal for summertime picnics or casual dining. Check out the EZ Dye Cotton kit on the Cotton Clouds website. It’s a fun and easy project!

Earth Day is April 22

1969, the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland caught fire. Although it wasn’t the first time the river burned, it became the symbol of the desperate condition of American waterways choked by pollution and spurred the passage of the Clean Water Act. A year later, 20 million Americans rallied on April 22 – the first Earth Day and the birth of the present day environmental movement. 42 years later, the environmental challenges are great, but we have many opportunities to take action. Here is the statement from the Earth Day website For Earth Day 2012 we are mobilizing the planet simply to … Read more

Tips For Using Less Water & Energy to Get Color

Here are some simple tips to help you use less water and energy to get the colors you want: 1. Try some of the innovative dye techniques as practiced by India Flint and Kimberly Baxter Packwood. Both these artists create using low-water and low resource methods that yield surprising and very beautiful results. Each has developed her method of eco-dyeing using windfall and waste materials and the pieces they produce are evocative of the spirit of a leaf or the wild meanderings of decomposing plant matter. 2. Take up fabric or yarn painting with natural dyes. You use less water … Read more

2012: The Year of More Color

How is it that we can look at a washing machine that is Harvest Gold and instantly date it to the 70’s? Or say “Santa Fe colors” and know that we’re speaking of a greenish teal, terra cotta, sage green and mauve? The answer is color forecasting. Each year a number of color experts meet (there are many forecasting organizations) and discuss the direction that colors are taking based on their observations of popular culture, political and economic climates and emerging trends. Out of these meetings come color forecasts which help guide colors for interiors, consumer goods, fashion and cosmetics. … Read more

Tips For Pokeberry Dyeing on Wool

We’re pretty obsessed with pokeberry dyeing right now for dyeing wool, making ink and just squishing them up and dropping them on paper. They are SO intense and exciting to use. I visited Japanese textile artist and katazome instructor John Marshall in his studio in Covelo, Mendocino County and was surprised to see that his entire front yard was covered in pokeberry bushes. Although pokeberries are native to most of the the United States, I had never even heard of them and was browsing through Rebecca Burgess’ book Harvesting Color on natural dyes when I spotted a beautiful red skein … Read more

Hints & Tips for Natural Dyers: How to Minimize Indigo Crocking

1. It’s supposed to rub off. That’s why blue jeans fade. 2. Certain cultures attribute indigo crocking to its authenticity and prize the way that excess indigo comes off on the hands or body. I found a description from Duncan Clarke of Adire African Textiles on how West African cultures dye and prepare indigo cloth: “After the dyed cloth had dried it was customary to beat the fabric repeatedly with wooden beaters, which both pressed the fabric and imparted a shiny glaze. In some areas additional indigo paste was beaten into the cloth at this stage, subsequently rubbing off on … Read more

A Perfect Red: A Story of Cochineal

A Perfect Red is a marvelous story about the history of the “discovery” of cochineal by Europe in the 16th century. The tiny scale insect is one of the most compelling red colors in the natural dye palette and its introduction took Europe by a storm, garnering huge fortunes for Spain and England (who pirated tons of cochineal bounty from Spain). Author Amy Butler Greenfield details the challenges that it took to bring this dyestuff to market from the fall of the Aztec empire to Perkin’s discovery of mauve. Her 300-page book reads like a natural dye bodice-ripping historical romance … Read more

Handwoven Fair Trade Wool Shawl – Temporarily out of stock

Something for cooler weather that takes dyes beautifully. Our sumptuous wool shawl is handwoven of fine wool in a lofty, gauzy weave. Large enough for a wrap but light and soft enough as an oversized scarf. Handknotted decorative fringe. Size is a generous 79”x39” (200×100 cm). 100% wool. $34.00 Color Natural $34.00

Handwoven Silk Tussah Gauze Shawl-Temporarily Out of Stock

One of the really fun things about working with suppliers around the world is when DHL drives up and the very nice driver lugs a bucket, barrel or box up the long driveway. The dog is barking wildly, desperately trying to make best friends before I drag in the goods and close the front door. We both eye the parcel (he sniffs it), and depending where it’s from start unraveling packing tape or string to see what’s inside. I just received a cache of gorgeous handwoven scarves and shawls that are a delight to dye and look beautiful colored with … Read more