fibershed Archives - Botanical Colors

Sunday Visit: Stacie Chavez Of Imperial Yarn Looks At The Future Of Fiber

Every Sunday, Botanical Colors sits down for an interview with a luminary in the natural dye and textile world. Grab a cup of tea and settle in to learning about someone you never knew! Catch up on all our Sunday Visits here. In late 2015, fiber farmer Stacie Chavez along with Lynn Edens purchased Imperial Stock Ranch Fiber. Imperial Yarn, which is a company under the Imperial Stock Ranch Fiber umbrella, is 100% American grown and American made yarn. From that yarn they also make beautiful clothing, home goods, patterns and more. With around 6,500 acres of land for her animals … Read more

Sunday Visit: Evolving Fibershed With Rebecca Burgess

Today’s Sunday Visit is with one of our fiber and dye heroes, Rebecca Burgess. Rebecca is the executive director of Fibershed and the author of Harvesting Color as well as Fibershed-Growing a Movement of Farmers, Fashion Activists, and Makers for a New Textile Economy. She’s also a seasoned weaver and natural dyer. About a decade ago, Rebecca had the idea to develop a project focused on wearing clothing made from fiber grown, woven, and sewn within her bioregion of North Central California. From the Fibershed book: “As she began to network with ranchers, farmers, and artisans, she discovered that even … Read more

Sunday Visit: Hannah Regier’s Vermont Landcestors

For this week on Sunday Visit, we spend some time with Vermont-based fiber artist/land conservationist Hannah Regier. Hannah is a second generation professional craftsperson, a small scale homesteader, and “a third or more generation fiber worker.” She says her work is not about any “virtuosity of technique or adherence to current fashions” but more towards exploring how she can be of service to the natural materials she works with and the environment. Hannah will be sharing her practice and the evolution of her work this week on FEEDBACK FRIDAY focusing on her latest project, Landcestors which was supported by a creation … Read more

Video For FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Tannin Dyeing With Sari Monroy Solis

Last week we had a special presentation of FEEDBACK FRIDAY, this time with Sari Monroy Solis. Sari is a Mayan Kaqchikel backstrap weaver,natural dyer, and fiber enthusiast. Sari will be zooming in live from Guatemala and will be doing natural dyeing with local coffee fruits and other foraged tannins. She has been practicing tannin dyeing with foraged materials in Coastal California and is excited to share a little about the work she does with her elders in San Antonio Aguas Calientes, Guatemala. Watch the recording below. Sari’s Instagram @theblueweaver What is she excited about right now? “One, sharing my weaving … Read more

Botanical Colors Awarded Grant From Fibers Fund!

We are so excited to announce that Botanical Colors was awarded one of five technical assistance grants from Fibers Fund, a project of Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders (SAFSF) and Fibershed with Mission Driven Finance. All five grants were given to support and grow U.S. fiber, textile, and dye businesses. Botanical Colors joins Oregon-based Fibrevolution profiled in the SAFSF Fibers Roadmap Case Studies. Both businesses have helped inform the development of the Fibers Fund from the beginning. The next set of grants supports a critical new group of businesses for the Fibers Fund, the Black Fiber Cohort. This … Read more

Video From LIVE FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Honeyfolk Clothing

This week’s FEEDBACK FRIDAY was with Heidi Iverson, Founder of Honeyfolk Clothing. Heidi was one of the original founders of Fibershed, an organization we love and respect so much. Watch the video recording here: Honeyfolk Clothing is entirely handcrafted by Heidi Iverson, in her studio surrounded by second-growth Redwoods in Western Sonoma County. She also devotes time to various forms of textile arts, primarily knitting and natural dyeing with plants and flowers she hand gathers or cultivates. While cutting pieces for the collection, all smaller off-cuts are set aside and re-used in various projects that require small pieces, like quilts … Read more

Video From LIVE FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Melanie Falick

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

Organic Jeans, Naturally Sourced & Indigo Dyed in Northern California

The San Francisco Chronicle writes: “Rebecca Burgess is on a quest for the perfect jeans. And by perfect, she means a good fit, but also something much deeper than that. Her denim has to have a good conscience. Her dream pants need to be made without heavy metal-based synthetic dyes that pollute the environment, woven with non-GMO organic cotton, and constructed using materials sourced within 150 miles of her west Marin home. The garment must be handcrafted by local artists, not machines or destitute laborers in a faraway sweatshop. It’s a tall order. So tall, she had to fill it … Read more

New Dye Journal In Bay Area An Impressive Collective of Natural Dyers

What a fantastic new dye journal by PlantsPeople, based out of the Bay area and totally readable online. Contact Deepa Preeti Natarajan, founder of PlantsPeople if you’d like a hard copy otherwise read here. Including the brilliant minds of Rebecca Burgess of Fibershed, Sasha Duerr of the Permacouture Institute, Kristine Vejar of A Verb for Keeping Warm and BIOhue.