fructose

You Asked, Kathy Answered: The pH of Indigo

We get lots of emails from customers about challenges with dyeing and needing Botanical Colors’ President Kathy Hattori’s help. Why not share the learning so we can all benefit? From our inboxes to you, it’s simple: You Asked, Kathy Answered. Email questions@botanicalcolors with your plea for help! YOU ASKED: I set up an indigo vat a few weeks ago using fructose and lime. I dyed a few cotton items which worked well and now I want to dye some wool and silk. I’m having trouble lowering the pH. I’ve added more fructose but the pH is still 10.9. I tried … Read more

Seven swatches of blue fabric from very pale on the left to dark navy blue on the right

A Deep Dive into the 1-2-3 Indigo Vat

Indigo gradation from Aboubakar Fofana’s workshop on indigo.  The vat is a 7gpl fructose vat. Diving into indigo blue We have been working with the 1-2-3 indigo vat for nearly 10 years and over time made some adjustments to the original recipe from Michel Garcia. Here we share a recent experiment where we set up 4 different types of 1-2-3 vats and present the results. New instructions are linked below for each vat type with hints for a successful indigo vat!  You can also search our blog posts for information on indigo vats and answers to your many questions. Our … 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: After using the 1-2-3 indigo dye vat, do you need to mordant the now blue skein before you overdye with yellow to get green or madder to get purple? If you are overdyeing with a dye that does not require a mordant (like walnut hulls, for example), then you do not need to mordant after indigo dipping. … Read more

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