indigo dyes

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: My indigo stock solution isn’t changing color? What should I do? If […]

We love when natural dyes and technology come together and when it also involves celestial maps? Well, let’s just say some collaborations are a lot cooler than others. The Creator’s Project is one of our favorite daily reads and they write this: “Those in the northern hemisphere know that the North Star, Polaris, is a […]

Shibori is a centuries-old Japanese method of dyeing cloth by binding, stitching, folding, twisting, and compressing. In this workshop featuring all Botanical Colors indigo dyes, participants will learn these basic techniques through demonstration and hands-on application. Utilizing recycled and reclaimed materials, participants will apply these decorative techniques to create their own unique piece. Tuition is […]

Before a new line of Levi’s indigo blue jeans appears in a store, Bart Sights and his team at the Levi’s Eureka Lab have worked hard to perfect the perfect pair. The New York Times writes: “Natural indigo is finicky, and for the jeans Levi’s produces on a mass scale, the company uses primarily synthetic, […]

This week we are in Detroit, dipping indigo with Lazlo, an apparel brand run by a sibling duo in Detroit. So exciting! Lazlo is taking the most familiar items in a man’s wardrobe and rethinking each step of the manufacturing process to consider its impact on local economies and the environment. The result is a […]

Lazlo, an apparel brand run by a sibling duo in Detroit is taking the most familiar items in a man’s wardrobe and rethinking each step of the manufacturing process to consider its impact on local economies and the environment. The result is a premium t-shirt with a lifetime guarantee. Brother/sister duo Christian and Kathryn Birky […]

According to Phys.org, Berkeley bioengineering professor John Dueber has studied the chemical steps plants use to naturally make indigo, and he thinks he has found an environmentally green way for the industry to churn out the dye without the use of toxic compounds. “When plant leaves are healthy, a chemical precursor to indigo, called indican, […]

We love being inspired by our community and to see who is doing what and where! While some of these feeds are a little new to Instagram, others are seasoned members and continue to inspire. Here are 10 feeds we can’t stop going back to but are no means the complete list. Who have we […]

We’ve been helping Cincinnati-based  Noble Denim on a collaborative project with Bulleit Bourbon, dyeing jeans with natural dyes in old bourbon casks. A fascinating bit of research and development for sure so we are dyeing (couldn’t help it), to see how the colors come out. Chris Sutton, the “head jeansmith” of Noble Denim left his […]

We love this article by Scissor Variations on how to DIY dye yarn at home. Though the author suggests Dylon dyes, we’ll direct you here to all of our natural dyes that will help achieve the same results with much less toxicity. Check out the step by step process here and have fun (not to […]