You Asked, Kathy Answered: Oak Tannins On Cotton

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 am curious about some results I’ve been having using oak as my tannin bath for cotton fibers. As far as my experimentation goes I first tried freshly fallen oak leaf— still green, as a pre-mordant tannin bath at around 50% WoF. I found the fibers turned a dark purple color, … Read more

Video From FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Textile Artist Youngmin Lee

Last FEEDBACK FRIDAY we welcomed textile artist, Youngmin Lee. Youngmin talked about her practice using Korean textile traditions that include bojagi and her ultimate journey to find happiness. It was one of those magical presentations that we got lots of messages about that it was “one of our best.” Watch the recording below. About Youngmin Lee Website Facebook Instagram: @youngminlee_bojagi  &  @koreantextiletour Email: [email protected] Youngmin Lee is a textile artist using bojagi tradition and techniques to create her work. Her interest in textiles led her to study clothing and textile in college and she received an MFA in Fashion Design in South … Read more

Sunday Visit: California Dreaming with Jody Alexander

For this week’s Sunday Visit, we catch up with California-based mixed media artist Jody Alexander. Jody is a mixed media artist who lives and works in Santa Cruz and Penn Valley, California. She combines textiles, paper, found items and imagery to create books, objects, wall pieces, garments, and installations. Her current work is inspired by the art of repair, reuse, imagery and stories encountered in her travels and everyday. We’re so excited that Jody will also be our LAST Botanical Colors class of this year BUT the first in our new studio space. Yes, we’ll be teaching in real life … 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

Sunday Visit With Botanical Colors’ President Kathy Hattori

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

You Asked, Kathy Answered: A Strange Result With Logwood

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! Thanks to Amy Tucker Studio for this week’s questions! YOU ASKED: I was instructing an eco printing workshop this weekend, and I was using logwood for the carrier blankets and I had a strange occurrence. I attached some photos to show what it looked like and what happened. I extracted the color from … Read more

Video From FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Alice Sowa + Bacteria Dyeing

Last Friday we had Alice Sowa presenting on bacteria dyeing in Iceland! Fjólublár/Living Purple is a collaborative, ongoing research project between the Icelandic Textile Center and research lab BioPol on creating a sustainable dyeing process for Icelandic Wool with the purple dye produced by the bacteria Janthinobacteruim lividum. We’ve been watching Alice on Instagram and are just so interested in the work she is doing. Watch the recording below. Here’s a bunch of links Alice shared with us during her presentation: Fabricacademy Icelandic Textile Center Faber Futures Living Colour Collective Puma Design to Fade Colorifix BioPol Bio: Alice Sowa is a multidisciplinary … Read more

Video From FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Takayuki & Tomo Ishii of Awonoyoh

Last week on FEEDBACK FRIDAY we had a special treat with Takayuki and Tomo Ishii of Awonoyoh. The two are just wrapping up their time in Seattle as Botanical Colors’ artists-in-residence. Taka is a renowned indigo dye artisan and Tomo is a designer and expert in Japanese clothing. The two own a workshop in the mountainous area of Kanagawa Prefecture and they grow and process their own indigo to make traditional indigo fermentation vats. The two also run an indigo dyeing company using traditional techniques and materials. Watch the video recording here. Takayuki and Tomo will talk about the tradition … Read more

You Asked, Kathy Answered: Reusing a Liquid Logwood Dye Bath

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 am learning to use dye blankets in my botanical prints. I want to make a logwood pot that would be used multiple times. Here are my varied questions: Thanks for your time. LOVE your website and helpful info, to say nothing of the Beginners Dye Kit. Taking the cold water … Read more

Video From FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Natalie Stopka + Tilke Elkins

Last week we had a FEEDBACK FRIDAY alumni discussion with Natalie Stopka and Tilke Elkins! The two returned to FEEDBACK FRIDAY to have a conversation on ruderal plant color, orphaned materials and forging relationships through materiality at the margins. The two discussed unwanted, discarded, or simply forgotten things and following intuition as a practice of emergent design.  If you’ve never been to a FEEDBACK FRIDAY featuring two former presenters in discussion you’re in for a treat. Watch the recording below. Check out these three previous matchups: Preserving history with Narayan Khandekar + Porfirio Gutíerrez Mapping Color With Sasha Duerr + Maibe … Read more