madder Archives - Botanical Colors

Mordant Monday: Creating Color In Tucson

We used raw dyestuffs: cochineal insects, coreopsis flowers, marigolds, extracts and two indigo vats (henna and fructose). I was very impressed how beautiful the colors came out! I was fortunate to teach in Tucson, Arizona last month for the Tucson Handweavers and Spinners Guild. This was my first time in Arizona and it was a wonderful experience. The dramatic desert landscape really commands your attention and the light just before sunset is luminous. The swatches are from a number of different dye baths and we mixed and matched colors to create 4-color palettes with an indigo dip at the end. … Read more

MORDANT MONDAY: Can A Cold Water Mordant Deepen Colors?

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 recently purchased some aluminum triformate from you all. I tried the aluminum triformate using it at 10% WOF hoping to get the strongest results possible. So far I have only the aluminum sulfate to compare it to. It seems the aluminum sulfate samples are much darker, especially the reds, although I am not finished with all the colors. I am wondering if this is typically the case? Is there anything you would suggest to coax … Read more

You Asked, Kathy Answered: What IS Calcium Carbonate?

YOU ASKED: May I ask what you mean by calcium carbonate? I read in your description of “calcium carbonate” you compare it to chalk. This confuses me because chalk is caso4•(H2O) while calcium carbonate is caco3. KATHY ANSWERED: What we call “chalk” in the US is Calcium Carbonate – CaC03, a powdery white material. The formula that you reference is Calcium Sulfate and it may also be called “chalk” but in the US, we commonly refer to it as “gypsum”. Calcium carbonate is used to mark soccer fields, as a dietary calcium supplement, an ingredient in antacids, and building materials! … Read more

You Asked, Kathy Answered: Get A Gorgeous Madder Red

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: Good morning and thank you so much for this opportunity of free knowledge that you give us. I saw in your madder recipe to put the dye at 145/160 degrees? The recipe says that to make a real red, the temperature must not exceed 80 degrees otherwise it turns brown. But … Read more

Sunday Visit: Dye Experiments With Madeleine McGarrity of Cold N’ Deadly

For this week’s Sunday Visit, we catch up with textile artist, researcher, and natural dyer, Madeleine McGarrity of Cold N’ Deadly. Madeleine McGarrity is a designer, textile researcher, and professional printmaker currently living and working in Providence, RI. She grew up in rural Northwest New Jersey, graduated from Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA in Printmaking in 2010, and worked as a teacher and professional textile printer in Brooklyn, NY from 2012 to 2020. In 2019, she started Cold and Deadly, a project investigating the development of a modern system for textile printing with natural dyes. She is … Read more

MORDANT MONDAY: Does Alum Triformate Shift Color?

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 have just recently tried Alum triformate, first time using it. Have you had reports that it shifts the colors? We used Sequoia extract that was purchased from Maiwa, and it should have a dusty brownish purple, and it did on the regular alum mordanted bits I had in there- but it made a greenish grey on the triformate. Just wondering if you had info on this? I’m going to do a test with 2 skeins in … Read more

RECIPE: A Coral Natural Dye Recipe To Sing You Into Spring

This is a Botanical Colors coral natural dye recipe for a classic, madder color in a soft salmon hue guaranteed to sing you into spring. Dyer’s notes: You can use the same coral natural dye recipe for animal or plant fibers. We recommend mordanting to achieve the best results. Your mordant options are aluminum potassium sulfate (for animal fibers), or aluminum acetate or symplocos (for plant fibers). Symplocos is an alum bioaccumulator from dried leaves and we’ve used it successfully on both animal and plant fibers. In its native Indonesia, it’s used mostly on plant fibers. Step 1 – Weigh … 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

Video From LIVE FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Debbie Bamford

This week’s FEEDBACK FRIDAY was with The Mulberry Dyer’s Debbie Bamford who talked about all things Turkey Red. Watch the video recording here: Here are some things that Deb mentioned in her talk: The Dyer’s Company This is where Deb got her degree from, The Society of Dyers and Colorists TORM: The Original Reenactors Market That hood she wore has a tail and it is called a Liripipe Deb didn’t recommend this, but here is a reenactment pattern site Here are some links about turkey red that our co-host Brece Honeycutt used to learn more about it: West Dunbartonshire Council … Read more

Video From LIVE FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Melonie Ancheta

This week’s FEEDBACK FRIDAY was with pigment artist Melonie Ancheta. Melonie addressed what we can learn about cultures through the lens of pigments and what the study of pigments reveals about history and cultures. Watch the video recording here: Read Melonie’s FEEDBACK FRIDAY responses to all chat questions. About Melonie Ancheta has been studying pigments for more than 40 years, (traditional native pigments for more than 25), to analyze and properly identify pigments, and to assist museums, conservators, collectors, artists and scholars to determine the materials, tools and techniques used in traditional Native American paints. This information is used in … Read more