Sweet Peach Creates Natural Dyes For Home DIY

We love discovering new blogs that tackle natural dyeing. Sweet Peach is one of our new favorites and had us when we just saw kids in the kitchen. Kids never stop wanting to create and play and what better than to bring common household items into the fold to create with! Check out this great blog post they did using Tumeric, coffee, blackberries, tea, beets, red cabbage, berries and spinach -these ladies had a blast. Check out this blog post to see their results and if you’re looking for an all in one kit, look no further than one of … Read more

Dyeing for Dummies: Natural Dye Poster Child-Indigo

Indigo has a long standing history of heavy-duty power in terms of economics and trade and is probably one of the most talked and written about dyes in the natural dye world. We love the color blue and all its moodiness. It’s also very in for fall 14. Get ready for the navy explosion! For this Dyeing for Dummies, I have put not only myself but husband and daughter in the cross hairs of looking foolish, over exuberant, and dummy-like. (Side note, they had a blast and refuse to be called dummies.) We used all of Botanical Colors’ dyes and … Read more

Food as a Medium: Pigments and Dyes Made from Edibles

Design Milk writers from Pinch Food Design Bob Spiegel and TJ Girard recently had a great post on natural dyes made from edibles that we were swooning over. They write: “Food as a medium is not a new concept, but a revisited one. Many trades, especially textile designers are finding crossover with food while developing their pieces. What’s interesting to us is some of their application methods when it comes to natural dyes. Never thought I would be nostalgic for tie-dye, however after a brief holiday in the hippie hills of Southern Turkey, I’ve found myself lured by these chaotic … Read more

Good for You Clothing from Oregon’s Tinctoria Designs

Tinctoria Designs was created by Samantha Backer and Jill Golden in the Spring of 2003. All of Tinctoria’s garments are the duos original designs and are “intentionally manufactured” in Portland, Oregon using only organic fabric blends including hemp, soy, and organic cotton and Botanical Colors’ natural dyes. Both Sandy and Jill use organic fibers to “honor and protect our bodies and the environment.” Each Tinctoria garment is first sewn in it’s undyed natural state and is then hand dyed in our studio using material extracted from trees, roots, plants, and insects. All of the colors are handcrafted by mixing and … Read more

How To: The Mason Jar Method for Solar Dyeing

We’ve put together this easy Mason jar method for solar dyeing! Use these tips all summer long for a fun, energy and water-saving way to create color! The jars featured here are filled with our fruitwood chips (apple, cherry and peach) and on sale until next week! Equipment and ingredients for the Mason jar method for solar dyeing: -1 wide-mouth, 32 ounce (1 quart) glass Mason Jar with lid.  You can also use any heat-resistant large glass jar. If your fiber doesn’t fit easily into the jar, you can use a wide mouth 64 ounce (2 quart) jar or larger … Read more

Construction Techniques with Aboubakar Fofana: Create a Pair of Stripcloth Trousers

Video From Aboubakar Fofana (LIVE) Bamako Studio Tour!

Last time on FEEDBACK FRIDAY, we welcomed back Malian artist, educator, indigo farmer and friend, Aboubakar Fofana. Aboubakar took us for a live tour of his Bamako studio where we saw him harvest indigo, do some indigo dyeing,  got to meet his artisans and see all the amazingness that is Aboubakar on his home turf. We received so many nice emails from people expressing how wonderful this episode was. You won’t want to miss it. More about Aboubakar and his summer residency with us: Botanical Colors is pleased to announce that we are hosting Aboubakar Fofana for a month-long 2022 … 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

MORDANT MONDAY: Using Alum Sulfate For Plant & Protein Fibers?

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 confused about the different types of aluminum mordants. I want to do some dyeing of fabric (silk, cotton) and also some wool. Do I need to use different aluminum mordants for these different fibers? I was told that I needed aluminum acetate for plant fibers and aluminum sulfate for protein fibers. Is that true? I have alum sulfate and would love to use it for both if that is workable. KATHY ANSWERED: Mordanting provides lots of … Read more