iron

Iron( ferrous sulfate)

MORDANT MONDAY: Iron + Mordant=A “Weird Feeling”

We get mordant questions all the time at Botanical Colors so why not create Mordant Monday??? Got mordanting questions? Email [email protected] YOU ASKED: I bought iron from you guys to use to dye some wool fabric. I used it in a dye bath with coffee. I used your alum to mordant prior to dyeing in advance. I’m concerned I let the fabric sit too long in the coffee + iron bath because it now has a sort of weird feeling to it, almost a coating on it. Curious if there is a way to remedy this? KATHY ANSWERED: Sometimes too … Read more

You Asked, Kathy Answered: Adding More Iron To A Ferrous Indigo Vat

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: I made a 1-2-3 ferrous indigo vat, which I have done before with success. This time, I checked the vat after a few days and a good stir, and it seemed weak – there was some reduction, but it wasn’t very strong for the amount of indigo I had put in. … Read more

MORDANT MONDAY: Alum + Tannin & Line Fade

We get mordant questions all the time at Botanical Colors so why not create Mordant Monday??? Got mordanting questions? Email [email protected] YOU ASKED: I live in India and where I live there is a lot of rust in the water.  When I have tried to do a tannin-alum procedure before dyeing I noticed as soon as I put my fabric in the alum after the oak gall soak my fabric turns grey!!!  The alum I have is alum sulfate for cotton because I don’t have alum acetate.  I am trying symplocos now. Any suggestions how to avoid staining all material grey?? KATHY … Read more

How To Make Your Own Signature Black Natural Dye

Want to know how to make your very own signature black natural dye? Here’s a really good black recipe from Kathy to send you into tannin and iron experiments all day…or maybe, for the rest of your life. Black with gallo tannin, iron and logwood is a historical recipe from Europe and creates a warm black. Prior to the introduction of logwood to Europe, black was achieved through multiple baths of tannin and iron, or by overdyeing with madder, weld and woad. The basic rule of thumb with this recipe is that you can dye and continue overdyeing to achieve … 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

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