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

Video From LIVE FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Kathy Hattori Q&A

This week’s FEEDBACK FRIDAY was all about Botanical Colors’ Founder/President, Kathy Hattori for a Q&A. Watch the video recording here: …and here are a bunch of questions Kathy didn’t get to that she’s answered: I would like to know how to work with a lump of logwood extract that got damp. maybe in a blog post? Yes, we’ll put a post together that talks about stock solutions. I have mixed old nails with vinegar and the liquid started foaming. What is happening? It sounds like it was a reaction from the metal and the vinegar.  Perhaps some of the nails … Read more

Video From LIVE FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Harvard’s Forbes Pigment Collection

This week’s FEEDBACK FRIDAY was with the Forbes Pigment Collection director Narayan Khandekar. Narayan is the director of Harvard’s Straus Center and the senior conservation scientist, who oversees the Forbes Pigment Collection. Watch the video recording here: The Forbes Pigment Collection is an assemblage of more than 2,700 pigments (and counting!)—is in active use by conservation scientists at the museums, who rely on the samples for testing and as reference materials in the analytical laboratory. For that reason, most of the collection can be glimpsed only from outside the glass-walled Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies. Former Fogg Museum … Read more

RSVP: LIVE FEEDBACK FRIDAY With Botanical Colors’ Founder Kathy Hattori

Join us September 11th, 9am Pacific, 12 pm Eastern for a live Zoom FEEDBACK FRIDAY with Botanical Colors’ Founder Kathy Hattori. We are going old school this week with Kathy answering all the natural dye/mordant/process questions we can get to. Send your questions ahead of time to me (Amy) at [email protected]. RSVP for FEEDBACK FRIDAY with Kathy Hattori HERE. What Botanical Colors Does: The way that conventional color is applied to clothes is broken. “Wet processing” as industrial dyeing is called, is one of the top polluters in the world, consuming enormous amounts of energy, water and petrochemical based colorants. … Read more

Love Letters #4 (With Love From Budapest)

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] Just to show the importance of your Feedback Fridays, here is a very short story. Just yesterday about 5 minutes before the session started a … Read more

Video From LIVE FEEDBACK FRIDAY: A Verb For Keeping Warm

This week, we’ve got video from our live FEEDBACK FRIDAY featuring A Verb For Keeping Warm owner/founders Kristine Vejar and Adrienne Rodriguez. You might know Kristine from her book The Modern Natural Dyer. Watch the video recording here: RESOURCES: AVKW offers the following weekly meetups: + Wednesdays, noon-1pm PST – Verb Broadcast – showcasing items new to our shop as well as newly completed projects made with materials from Verb + Thursdays, noon-1pm PST – Maker’s Help – have questions about natural dyeing, knitting, sewing, etc? Come on over and trouble-shoot! + Fridays, 5-6:30pm – Maker’s Meetup – a casual … Read more

Video From LIVE FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Madder Experiments w/Jamie Bourgeois & Madeleine McGarrity

This week, we’ve got video from our live FEEDBACK FRIDAY featuring Jamie Bourgeois & Madeleine McGarrity talking madder and water quality. This particular FEEDBACK FRIDAY puts a spotlight on our community and the work they are doing regarding pollution and water quality. Watch the video recording here: The discussion focused on the duos investigations into water quality using natural dye processes. Both have used madder from Rubia tinctorum to better understand the composition of a selection of water sources. Jamie concentrates on the possible presence of toxic contaminants taken from Louisiana’s Cancer Alley, a 150-mile stretch of the Mississippi River … Read more

Video From LIVE FEEDBACK FRIDAY: With Katazome & Tsutsugaki Artist John Marshall

This week, we’ve got video from our live FEEDBACK FRIDAY featuring katazome (stencil dyeing) and tsutsugaki (cone drawing) artist John Marshall. John Marshall is an American fiber artist specializing in natural dyes and the traditional Japanese techniques of katazome (stencil dyeing) and tsutsugaki (cone drawing). He is internationally noted for his use of color and line to create truly unique one-of-a-kind art-to-wear, turning traditionally inspired aesthetics into contemporary treasures for daily life. As a teacher he is recognized for his ability to adapt traditional recipes and methods to suit local climates, resources, and temperaments – and for his ability to … 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