cellulose fibers Archives - Botanical Colors

MORDANT MONDAY: How Do You Get That Really Red Cochineal?

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 sending a picture of cotton yarn dyed in cochineal and an exhaust bath of madder. I mordanted this with aluminum triformate but have gotten the same bad results using tannin, then alum with a bit of soda ash. I scoured this yarn very carefully and for at least an hour (boiling). Is there some special trick to dying cotton with cochineal? I get beautiful results with wool. KATHY ANSWERED: From what I can see in the … Read more

MORDANT MONDAY: Cloudy Mordant & Eco Printing Fabric

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 think I purchased the wrong mordant, according to the chart on your website. I have a cotton tea towel and I purchased aluminum potassium sulfate. I plan on eco printing some flowers on it, do I need to purchase a different mordant? Also, this is my first time! KATHY ANSWERED: You can also use aluminum potassium sulfate on cellulose fibers for eco printing. The best technique is to try to traditional tannin-alum mordant which uses aluminum … Read more

a stack of silk fabrics and yarns in shades of reds, browns, and purples

FEEDBACK FRIDAY: This Week in Natural Dye Questions

This week on FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Maximizing color with assists and are liquid dyes prepared like extracts?

FEEDBACK FRIDAY: This Week in Natural Dye Questions

This week: Water-saving tips when mordanting and scouring

FEEDBACK FRIDAY: This Week in Natural Dye Questions

This week: How to deal with indigo crocking

FEEDBACK FRIDAY: This Week in Natural Dye Questions

This week: What’s the difference between our logwood extracts and how can you piece together an indigo vat in Peru without all the tools at your fingertips? (This answer is cool.)

FEEDBACK FRIDAY: This Week in Natural Dye Questions

This week: Interesting questions on pre and post-treatments for color and lightfastness

FEEDBACK FRIDAY: This Week in Natural Dye Questions

This week: Coaxing madder root to be more red and more mordanting questions…

A yellow-green powder sits in a red bowl

FEEDBACK FRIDAY: This Week in Natural Dye Questions

Each week, we are emailed with questions from our natural dye community asking simple and complex questions that we thought might be worth sharing. Here are a handful from this week answered by natural dyer in chief, Kathy Hattori, Founder of Botanical Colors: What is the best natural fixative for cotton? All tannins (chestnut, tara, myrobalan, cutch, etc) may be used to pre-mordant or mordant cellulose fibers but the recommended mordant is tannin and alum, and depending on the type of alum you are using, sometimes a post bath is also recommended. Instructions are given in our How To Section. … Read more

FEEDBACK FRIDAY: This Week in Natural Dye Questions

Each week, we are emailed with questions from our natural dye community asking simple and complex questions that we thought might be worth sharing. Here are a handful from this week answered by natural dyer in chief, Kathy Hattori, Founder of Botanical Colors: When working with iron on a larger scale, what is the best and safest methodology? I’m working on a project that is not big enough to requesting a dye house, so working out of a very large container (the size of a bathtub) and although I wear gloves, goggles and a (very basic) breathing mask, sometimes I … Read more