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How to Make a 1-2-3 Henna Indigo Vat

A henna vat will give you a warm blue color as henna has a strong brown-orange undertone, and it influences the cool shades of blue. It is a good choice for dark blue shades. Henna vats get noticeably stronger after several days of rest once they are built and the vat will smell strongly herbal. The henna powder is quite bulky and goopy when it is hydrated, so we like to mix it separately with a generous amount of water and then strain it through a fine mesh sieve to remove any lumps before adding it into the vat. Unsure … Read more

How to Make a 1-2-3 Fructose Indigo Vat

The fructose 1-2-3 vat is one of the easiest indigo vats to set up and gives good color. I’ve found that it benefits from a few days aging to really develop a consistent and beautiful blue. A fructose vat will give you a clear blue color and is a good choice if you want to dye light to medium blue shades. Dark shades require multiple dips. Unsure about what type of vat you want to use? See our blog post about different vat types here! Shop the the Easy 1-2-3 Fructose Indigo Kit here! Getting Started Ingredients (Amounts are calculated below) … Read more

Mid-Week FEEDBACK: Indigo Iron Vat & Expired Dyes

This week: How to make an indigo iron vat, can dyes expire and washfastness

A spoon of yellow powder on a stack of bright yellow and green fabrics and yarn

FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Mordanting Fabric Before or After Indigo Dyeing

This week on FEEDBACK FRIDAY: When overdyeing indigo with weld, mordanting before or after?

EILEEN FISHER Learning Lab Event With Botanical Colors Indigo!

Shibori is a centuries-old Japanese method of dyeing cloth by binding, stitching, folding, twisting, and compressing. In this workshop featuring all Botanical Colors indigo dyes, participants will learn these basic techniques through demonstration and hands-on application. Utilizing recycled and reclaimed materials, participants will apply these decorative techniques to create their own unique piece. Tuition is $115 and includes materials, use of all tools, coffee, tea, and light snack not to mention just being in the amazing and beautiful EILEEN FISHER Learning Lab in Irvington. RSVP on the EILEEN FISHER Learning Lab page here! Instructor Jean Wasil is a graduate of … Read more

Organic Jeans, Naturally Sourced & Indigo Dyed in Northern California

The San Francisco Chronicle writes: “Rebecca Burgess is on a quest for the perfect jeans. And by perfect, she means a good fit, but also something much deeper than that. Her denim has to have a good conscience. Her dream pants need to be made without heavy metal-based synthetic dyes that pollute the environment, woven with non-GMO organic cotton, and constructed using materials sourced within 150 miles of her west Marin home. The garment must be handcrafted by local artists, not machines or destitute laborers in a faraway sweatshop. It’s a tall order. So tall, she had to fill it … Read more

Bourbon Barrel (And Indigo) Aged Denim From Noble Denim

We’ve been helping Cincinnati-based Noble Denim on a collaborative project with Bulleit Bourbon, dyeing jeans with natural dyes in old bourbon casks. A fascinating bit of research and development for sure so we are dyeing (couldn’t help it), to see how the colors come out. Chris Sutton, the “head jeansmith” of Noble Denim left his desk job to sew all the jeans himself in our first year. Their site says: “As Noble grows, Chris wants to stay a hands-on creator rather than moving back to a desk simply because he eats sleeps and breathes making clothes. Our Small Batches keep … Read more

Recipe! Food Waste, Indigo and Natural Dyeing With Cara Piazza

This past Saturday I taught a natural dye workshop in the backyard of my friend’s Cyd and Neal’s vintage store – The Grand Street Bakery. A vintage store set in a converted old bakery, fully equipped with awesome vintage threads hanging on repurposed baking racks, stocked with natural apothecary, magazines and generally some of the best vintage buys you can find in New York. They also have an incredible backyard space so I thought a food waste workshop in a converted bakery with vintage oasis? Perfect. Working with donations from Reynard at the Wythe Hotel, and juice pulp from the … 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

Sunday Visit: Brittany Boles of Seaspell Fiber & Indigo Fest.

Every Sunday for Sunday Visit, Botanical Colors sits down for an interview with a luminary in the natural dye, textile and art world. Grab a cup of tea and settle in to learning about someone you never knew! Catch up on all our Sunday Visits here. This week we sit down with Indigo Doula and aficionado, Brittany Boles of Indigo Fest.