Indigo Archives - Botanical Colors

Mordant Monday: In the clutches of Cutch

This week’s Mordant Monday explores another well known and important tannin: Cutch. Cutch is a wood dye from Senegalia catechu (formerly Acacia catechu), an acacia species that grows in South and Southeast Asia. The dye is both a colorant, and a traditional medicine. It is also the by-product from the manufacture of “katha”, which is a crystalline substance that is an ingredient in paan or betel nut leaf, which is an Indian mouth freshener and digestive. We’ve never tried paan, but we love cutch for its versatility and deep colors. It’s a sweet-smelling dye and the color yield ranges from … Read more

IN PERSON VIEWING PARTY! Livestream Britt Boles’ Fresh Indigo Five Ways in Seattle!

Are you interested in using fresh indigo but didn’t have time to grow your own? We have a crop of indigo to share and invite you to join our live streaming event in Seattle. We’ll join the Zoom workshop as a group, project Britt on a large wall, and explore fresh leaf indigo. We’ll supply enough indigo to follow along with Britt and try the techniques that she covers, plus you will leave with your own indigo plant and tons of inspiration for future fresh leaf fun! You will receive a thriving indigo plant, fabric swatches, use of our tools and studio, and access to the online recording after the session. Seats are limited!

Eileen Fisher Renew Seattle Community Indigo Dip

Community Indigo Dip at Eileen Fisher Renew Seattle June 8 // 10am – 2pm EF Renew // 4860 Rainier Ave S, Seattle, WA 98118 We are excited to host another Community Indigo Dip at Eileen Fisher Renew. You are invited to bring your own garment to dip and we will have simple shibori tools available to use. Please bring a small item. No chunky sweaters or bedding and nothing synthetic as it will not be able to take the dye.

Sunday Visit: Brittany Boles of Seaspell Fiber & Indigo Fest.

Every Sunday for Sunday Visit, Botanical Colors sits down for an interview with a luminary in the natural dye, textile and art world. Grab a cup of tea and settle in to learning about someone you never knew! Catch up on all our Sunday Visits here. This week we sit down with Indigo Doula and aficionado, Brittany Boles of Indigo Fest.

Online Workshop: Fresh Indigo Five Ways – Blender, Salt, Tataki-Zome and More!

Online Workshop: Fresh Indigo Five Ways – Blender, Salt, Tataki-Zome and More! We are excited to host Brittany Boles of Seaspell Fiber for an online workshop using fresh leaf indigo (Persicaria tinctoria) and an array of techniques to get the most color out of your precious indigo crop. Brittany is a wonderful instructor and we’re honored to work with her again and offer this workshop. This is our most popular indigo workshop as many people grow Japanese indigo and are looking for ways to capture the beautiful, elusive color.

Sunday Visit: Arounna Khounnoraj and the Origins of @Bookhou

Every Sunday, Botanical Colors sits down for an interview with a luminary in the natural dye, textile and art world. Grab a cup of tea and settle in to learning about someone you never knew! Catch up on all our Sunday Visits here. This week we sit down with Arounna to learn about how she got started with her husband and how she grew her amazing community to what it is today. Can you tell us your origin story? How did Bookhou begin? I finished art school with a background in sculpture and ceramics and I started doing some teaching at … Read more

Sunday Visit: Kara Gilbert on Vibrant Valley Blue

Every Sunday, Botanical Colors sits down for an interview with a luminary in the natural dye, textile and art world. Grab a cup of tea and settle in to learning about someone you never knew! Catch up on all our Sunday Visits here. This week we sit down with force of nature Kara Gilbert of Vibrant Valley Farm. Vibrant Valley Farm works diligently to care for this earth in everything they do. They farm vegetables, flowers and dye plants and in each step of the process, honor sustainable practices to create healthier communities locally and globally in their outreach, education and daily … Read more

Sunday Visit: Regional Couture With Celeste Malvar-Stewart

This week on Sunday Visit, we catch up with Celeste Malvar-Stewart, a Filipino American fashion and fiber artist who focuses on sustainable design, emphasizing the importance of slow fashion within one of the most harmful industries. Celeste works with Ohio family farms to obtain luxury wool and alpaca fiber to create her hand-felted textiles and ethereal couture fashion, using all natural materials; emphasizing the unique and beautiful textures through natural dyes that she grows, forages, and obtains from Botanical Colors! She has exhibited her work in various museums and galleries, and is widely published both nationally and internationally. Celeste is … Read more

You Asked, Kathy Answered: Indigo For Soap Making

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 [email protected] with your plea for help! YOU ASKED: Indigo is often used as a natural colorant in soap making and I have been using your organic indigo powder for the past couple of years. As I’ve been researching about processing my fresh indigo plants to turn into powder I’ve started wondering about using indigo powder for soap making and … Read more

MORDANT MONDAY: Indigo & Discharging Mordants

We get mordant questions all the time at Botanical Colors so why not create Mordant Monday??? Got mordanting questions? Email [email protected] YOU ASKED: My question involves the processes of indigo dyeing when combined with other plant dyes that have been mordanted with aluminum acetate. My understanding is that citric acid discharges the mordant and also neutralizes the alkalinity of indigo as a last step in finishing indigo dyed cloth. How would you go about neutralizing indigo without discharging mordant? For some processes, I am wanting to use indigo on top of other colors rather than underneath. Can vinegar be used … Read more