Feedback Friday Archives - Page 24 of 26

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’s the difference between colorfastness in natural dyes vs synthetic? Based on the fact that we have museums filled with tapestries and other textiles from hundreds of years ago, why is there such debate that natural dyes last? This is an interesting question with a complex answer. Color, light and washfastness commonly refers to how well a … Read more

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: Are all synthetic dyes made from petroleum? Synthetic dyes are a huge category of colorants and they are derived mainly from benzene or benzene-like chemicals, which are among the primary petrochemicals. When they were first developed, they were called coal-tar dyes as they were developed from coal. Check out this article on our blog that covered this … Read more

Kathy Hattori holding a skein of yarn over a pot

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: I’m an indigo dyer using an iron vat. I keep getting the lime/iron residue grains adhering to my fabric when I pull it out of the vat and it either creates spots like this (attached) or just makes a piece look inconsistent. Do you guys have any tips and/or forums you could point me to? The iron … 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: I would like to be able to make variegated yarn from a finished skein (as opposed to spinning my yarn from various colored fibers, which is what I do now). I’ve done most of my dyeing on wool that I spin and then weave, but would like to dye cotton and hemp fabric. I am not able … 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: I just saw that Pantone created Love Symbol #2, an amazing shade for my favorite musician, Prince. Do you have an idea of how to create that color? Logwood chips used at about 50% wof with wool or silk mordanted with aluminum sulfate only (no cream of tartar) will make a rich reddish purple very … 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: 1. When scouring fabrics, is it ok to use a washing machine (hot water setting) if the fabric is too large (approximately 1 yard) for the stockpot or does it always need to be simmered in the pot on the stove? Will you see a difference in terms of cleanness of the fabric? Cleaning the fabric prior … 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

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: I am curious if there is a way to thicken the liquid dye and use it for painting on fabric. Any info is much appreciated. There are a number of vegetable based thickeners or gums that are used in printing and painting. We offer an organic printing gum that is easy to use and offers excellent thickening … Read more