Video From LIVE FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Melonie Ancheta

This week’s FEEDBACK FRIDAY was with pigment artist Melonie Ancheta. Melonie addressed what we can learn about cultures through the lens of pigments and what the study of pigments reveals about history and cultures. Watch the video recording here: Read Melonie’s FEEDBACK FRIDAY responses to all chat questions. About Melonie Ancheta has been studying pigments for more than 40 years, (traditional native pigments for more than 25), to analyze and properly identify pigments, and to assist museums, conservators, collectors, artists and scholars to determine the materials, tools and techniques used in traditional Native American paints. This information is used in … Read more

Video From LIVE FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Tali Weinberg

This week’s FEEDBACK FRIDAY was with weaver and climate activist Tali Weinberg. Tali is an artist who utilizes weaving, sculpture, thread drawing, and works on paper to visualize climate data. Tali presented her recent work responding to intertwined climate and health crises and talked about grief, water, oil, place, and weaving as text. Check out Tali’s website here. Watch the video recording here: ABOUT TALI: Tali Weinberg draws on a history of weaving as a subversive language for women and marginalized groups to create a feminist, material archive in response to worsening climate crisis. Her works merge practices of record … Read more

Video From LIVE FEEDBACK FRIDAY: 1-2-3 Indigo Vat

This week’s FEEDBACK FRIDAY was on the famous 1-2-3 indigo vat! Presenting this week? The best of the best, Botanical Colors Founder/President Kathy Hattori joined by Botanical Colors’ team member Kate Rosendale. Watch the video recording here: We get more questions about indigo than any other dye, so we decided to update our online information and also do a deep dive into the variations of the recipe based on Michel Garcia’s 1-2-3 indigo vat. we did some pretty extensive experiments with  fructose, henna and iron that you won’t want to miss. Botanical Colors’ team member Kate Rosendale and Kathy tested … Read more

Video From LIVE FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Kristin Arzt

This week’s FEEDBACK FRIDAY was with Kristin Arzt of Scrambles Quilts. Watch the video recording here: Kristin Arzt is a natural dyer, educator, gardener and designer based in Oakland, California. Kristin believes that by exploring the collision of textiles, plants and sustainability, she can help make the study of natural dyes accessible to everyone through education and enthusiasm. She is the Textiles Department Head at The Crucible, a non-profit organization dedicated to making arts education accessible to local youth and the surrounding community. We sell Kristin’s *Instant* Natural Indigo + Shibori Kit on our site. The kit includes all of … Read more

Video From LIVE FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Madame Magar

This week’s FEEDBACK FRIDAY was with Leigh Magar of Madame Magar. Leigh talked about all things indigo from her work as an indigo artist, designer, farmer and educator on issues surrounding indigo’s origins. Watch the video recording here: Madame Magar is a textile design studio inspired by art, nature, folkways and history. The studio embraces a “seed to stitch” design philosophy that explores the history, a rich yet tangled past of place; while living and working on a former indigo plantation. The “seed to stitch” vision is inspired by Eliza Lucas Pinckney; who as a young girl in the 1740’s … Read more

Video From LIVE FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Flora Obscura

This week’s FEEDBACK FRIDAY was with Flora Obscura founder/designer Alison Kelly. Alison Kelly is a fiber artist and fashion designer that creates one-of-a-kind textiles for Flora Obscura by adapting ancient natural dye techniques to combine with eco-printing: a process of laying flora directly onto cloth to be alchemically steamed and permanently imprinted with flora. Watch the video recording here: Here is her website. Here is her Instagram page. Some of the eco-printing books she mentioned: India Flint books Wild Colour by Jenny Dean And if you have time on Wednesday, October 7th to catch the RISD Nature Lab Common Thread … Read more

Video From LIVE FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Babs Behan

This week’s FEEDBACK FRIDAY was with natural dyer and specialist of non-toxic natural dyeing techniques and bio-regional, regenerative textile systems, Babs Behan. Babs is the author of Botanical Inks Plant-To-Print Dyes, Techniques and Projects Founder of Botanical Inks non-toxic natural dye studio and the Bristol Cloth project. Watch the video recording here: Follow Botanical Inks and Bristol Cloth on Instagram. Check out her website here. From Babs Behan: “I am committed to the transformation of our textile industry and the possibility of global environmental and cultural regeneration, inspired by my connection with nature. My work is with natural dyes and … Read more

FEEDBACK FRIDAY Love Letters #3

Adire Eleko, 20th century Nigeria, Yoruba Factory woven plain weave cloth, cassava paste resist with indigo dye Gift of the Christensen Fund, Seattle Art Museum FEEDBACK FRIDAY has meant so much to Kathy and I, and we know it means a lot to you too. We so appreciate all the emails and notes you send weekly about how they help you through this time. So why not have a little series with some of your love letters that make us all feel the love of this natural dye community? Got something you’d like to share? Email me, Amy at [email protected]Read more

Video From LIVE FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Rebecca Burgess of Fibershed

This week, we’ve got video from our live FEEDBACK FRIDAY featuring Rebecca Burgess of Fibershed.  Watch the recording here. Rebecca Burgess is the executive director of Fibershed, chair of the board for Carbon Cycle Institute, and the author of Harvesting Color as well as Fibershed-Growing a Movement of Farmers, Fashion Activists, and Makers for a New Textile Economy. Some things that Rebecca mentioned today: -The main Fibershed website. –3 maps showing Fibershed’s Regional Fiber Manufacturing Initiative. The first half of 2020 focused on mapping the ecosystem for the supply and processing of wool, linen, hemp, cotton, natural dyes, and hides. … Read more

FEEDBACK FRIDAY Love Letters #1

FEEDBACK FRIDAY has meant so much to Kathy and I, and we know it means a lot to you too. We so appreciate all the emails and notes you send weekly about how they help you through this time. So why not kick off a little series with some of your love letters that make us all feel the love of this natural dye community? Got something you’d like to share? Email me, Amy at [email protected] Dear Kathy and Amy, Thank you so much for the wonderful Feedback Fridays. They have been such a gift during this crazy time.  Although … Read more