natural dye

This week’s FEEDBACK FRIDAY was with indigo master dyer and multidisciplinary artist Aboubakar Fofana. Aboubakar is based in Mali and France and updated us on his latest projects including cotton cultivation in Mali. He also talked about his indigo farm, exhibits and the workshops he is teaching with Botanical Colors this spring and summer. Watch […]

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For Earth Month, we wanted to shine a light on two things very important to us: keeping carbon in the soil and protecting our water. As natural dyers, we have so many ways we can tackle these issues from collecting and reusing water creatively to simply stopping using hazardous pesticides as we grow our beautiful […]

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Donate to our scholarship fund to help us provide scholarships to workshops with cultural treasures and natural dye masters. This season’s instructors include Aboubakar Fofana and Porfirio Gutiérrez as well as other virtual artists-in-residence. Testimonials from Past Recipients: Being granted the scholarship from Botanical Colors I had the wonderful opportunity to study for master Aboubakar […]

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Image: © Rinne Allen, from Making a Life by Melanie Falick (Artisan) This week’s FEEDBACK FRIDAY was with independent writer, editor, creative consultant and lifelong maker, Melanie Falick. Her newest book, Making a Life: Working by Hand and Discovering the Life You Are Meant to Live, was released by Artisan in Fall 2019. Watch the [...] Continue Reading

This week, we’ve got video from our live FEEDBACK FRIDAY featuring Jamie Bourgeois & Madeleine McGarrity talking madder and water quality. This particular FEEDBACK FRIDAY puts a spotlight on our community and the work they are doing regarding pollution and water quality. Watch the video here. The discussion focused on the duos investigations into water […]

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Check out our most recent live Zoom FEEDBACK FRIDAY with Botanical Colors’ Founder Kathy Hattori. Kathy answered about 25-30 questions on all subjects. You’re going to learn a lot. HERE’S THE ZOOM RECORDING. Kathy’s books she mentioned on the video: Lichens For Vegetable Dyeing, Eileen M. Bolton Lichen Dyes: The New Source Book, Karen Casselman […]

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This week, we’ve got video from our live FEEDBACK FRIDAY featuring Aboubakar Fofana. We got to take a walk through Aboubakar’s art and life’s work through a visually stunning slideshow as well as a mini-film featuring his farm in Mali, West Africa. We’ve never had more emails thanking us for giving access to such an […]

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This week: How to make an indigo iron vat, can dyes expire and washfastness

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This week, we’ve got video from our live FEEDBACK FRIDAY featuring Sasha Duerr and her tips on place-based dyeing. Here’s the link for the Zoom recording. Sasha taught us how to look at place as a treasure trove of color. She also gave some great tips on how to accept color no matter how long […]

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This week, we’ve got video from our live FEEDBACK FRIDAY exploring a version of the famous 1-2-3 indigo vat using iron. Here’s the link for today’s recording (Access Password: 80PX94) This time around we explored a version of the famous 1-2-3 indigo vat using iron (ferrous sulfate) as our reducing agent. This is a useful vat […]

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