cochineal Archives - Botanical Colors

Mordant Monday: Middle Mordant Magic

In this week’s Mordant Monday, we discuss Middle Mordant. Middle Mordant is a technique that I learned about from The Art and Science of Natural Dyes. It’s considered to be a Japanese technique and is a simple way to create rich color on silk. Middle mordant uses room temperature dye baths and you can repeat the process until the fabric is the color you want. The purpose of middle mordant is to deepen the depth of shade and most of the examples I’ve seen use silk fabric and alum mordant. There are somewhat similar techniques that old dye books discuss, … Read more

Sunday Visit: Regional Couture With Celeste Malvar-Stewart

This week on Sunday Visit, we catch up with Celeste Malvar-Stewart, a Filipino American fashion and fiber artist who focuses on sustainable design, emphasizing the importance of slow fashion within one of the most harmful industries. Celeste works with Ohio family farms to obtain luxury wool and alpaca fiber to create her hand-felted textiles and ethereal couture fashion, using all natural materials; emphasizing the unique and beautiful textures through natural dyes that she grows, forages, and obtains from Botanical Colors! She has exhibited her work in various museums and galleries, and is widely published both nationally and internationally. Celeste is … Read more

MORDANT MONDAY: Can A Cold Water Mordant Deepen Colors?

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 recently purchased some aluminum triformate from you all. I tried the aluminum triformate using it at 10% WOF hoping to get the strongest results possible. So far I have only the aluminum sulfate to compare it to. It seems the aluminum sulfate samples are much darker, especially the reds, although I am not finished with all the colors. I am wondering if this is typically the case? Is there anything you would suggest to coax … Read more

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: Non-Toxic Mordants + Brightening Color

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 am sure you have received this question a bunch but I am curious, is the new cold water mordant Aluminum Triformate you are selling considered to be just as good as Aluminum Potassium Sulfate? Is it also considered to be just as “non toxic” as far as natural mordants go? KATHY ANSWERED: Aluminum triformate seems to work as reliably and well as Aluminum Potassium Sulfate. It is more acidic than APS, so we always rinse after … Read more

MORDANT MONDAY: Is It The Mordant Or The 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 am a junior Fashion Design student. I am currently working on a project where I am trying to dye cotton yarn with cochineal. I have followed the cochineal instructions on trying to achieve a bright red color however when I take out the yarn from the dye water it begins to turn black. What should I do in order to keep the bright red color on the yarn? KATHY ANSWERED: Can you take a picture of … Read more

MORDANT MONDAY: Mordanting Cotton & Freezing Clothes

We get mordant questions all the time at Botanical Colors so why not create Mordant Monday??? Got mordanting questions? Email [email protected] What is Mordanting? Mordanting is the most important process of preparing fibers to accept color. Using a mordant helps to ensure the most durable and long-lasting colors. With the exception of indigo (as a vat dye, it does not require a mordant), this is not an optional step. However, there are many different mordants you can use. Deciding which mordant to use comes down to the types of fibers you want to dye and how much time or energy … Read more

Video From LIVE FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Zapotec Textile Artist + Natural Dyer Porfirio Gutíerrez

Last week on FEEDBACK FRIDAY we had Zapotec textile artist, natural dyer, researcher, educator Porfirio Gutíerrez. Porfirio talked about his educational and artistic work now based in his Ventura, California studio and gave us a tour. Watch the video recording below: Some of the dyes that Porfirio talked about that we sell: Oak galls Pericón Cochineal Porfirio Gutíerrez is known internationally for his exceptional devotion to the textile traditions of his home pueblo of Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca, a richly historic Zapotec textile artist community. His mission has been reinvigorating and preserving natural dyeing techniques for future generations both in … Read more

Video From LIVE FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Fiber + Installation Artist Juliette Sallin

This week on FEEDBACK FRIDAY we had fiber and installation artist Juliette Sallin. Juliette talked about her most recent works and research about the relationship between plant, femininity and colors. Watch the video here. Follow Juliette’s work here and here. Juliette says her favorite dyes of ours are cochineal, safflower and logwood. ABOUT: Born in 1980 in Geneva, Switzerland, fiber and installation artist Juliette Sallin studied textile design at the University of Florence, new media at the HEAD Geneva and Kingston University (GB). Two-time recipient of the Swiss Ikea Foundation (2009 and 2013), Juliette has exhibited in Switzerland and Great … Read more

Video From LIVE FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Elena Phipps

This week’s FEEDBACK FRIDAY was with Elena Phipps whose talk focused on the art history of cochineal. It also broke all of our FEEDBACK FRIDAY records with 516 RSVPS? Go Elena! Watch the video recording here: Elena’s presentation traced the origins of this special red color in the Americas and its role in global trade from the 16th century. during her extensive time at the Metropolitan Museum which she says “allowed her to develop a broad view of the range of textiles that had been dyed with cochineal, and working with scientists at the museum, we were able to test … Read more