Studio time is always inspiring and we were more than happy to welcome Liz Spencer of The Dogwood Dyer from Brooklyn a few weeks ago. Liz creates hand made accessories and garments from ethically sourced fibers and dyestuffs from the country and along roadsides surrounding New York City. She also grows some of her dyes […]
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271 Years Before Pantone-Every Color Imaginable in an 800-Page Book
Colossal writes: “In 1692 an artist known only as “A. Boogert” sat down to write a book in Dutch about mixing watercolors. Not only would he begin the book with a bit about the use of color in painting, but would go on to explain how to create certain hues and change the tone by […]
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MALVAR=STEWART’s BLUEPRINT Collection
Celeste Malvar-Stewart, the designer of Columbus, Ohio based MALVAR=STEWART creates “non-seasonal lines of women’s clothing,” using salvaged fabrics and local natural dyes that do not follow the standard fashion concept of “this season’s color palette.” They also focus on unconventional design that is thoughtful towards the environment at every stage of the garment’s life cycle, without […]
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Indigo Topography
Carrie Crawford, a new Botanical Colors customer wrote to us: “My husband, Jonathan contacted you in October for some basic indigo information and we shortly thereafter ordered supplies for a 1-2-3 vat. I have been experimenting and having a wonderful time with my vat…what a beautiful experience….I am forever in love with indigo…. I will […]
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Dyeing For Dummies: The Mysteries of Walnut Hull Powder
Working for a natural dye guru can give a social media director and consultant (that’s me) an inferiority complex. In fact, when people ask me who I work for and I tell them, Kathy Hattori, a “natural dye guru,” and they say “Oh, you must be really good at dyeing,” all I can do is […]
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Madison Wool and Wildwood Farm Host a Natural Dye Weekend
We had so much fun this past weekend in Madison, Connecticut at Madison Wool and Wildwood Farm’s natural dye weekend! Participants had their own personal natural dye journeys using both the classical, historical dyes and some surprising new ones (think walnut sludge and pokeberries). We also worked with some of Botanical Colors’ ancient raw dyestuffs […]
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Titania Inglis S/S 14 Takes Natural Dyes to New Levels
Last week at New York Fashion Week, Botanical Colors customer Titania Inglis, showcased her collection “Tessellation,” at the Standard hotel in Manhattan. For her S/S 14 collection, Inglis says she was particularly inspired by both the Danish-Icelandic installation artist Olafur Eliasson and renowned American architect and futurist Bucky Fuller. Botanical Colors was at the show […]
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Book Review: In Search of the Perfect Green – and Orange, Too!
In 1997, Stefania Isaacson opened her business, Handspun by Stefania and quickly realized she needed to learn how to dye fibers to create beautiful colors for her yarn. She discovered natural dyes and began to concoct unusual and striking combinations of spinning fibers and hand spun yarns. Now after many years she has written a [...] Continue Reading -
Interview: Appalatch Apparel Sees Natural Dyes As An Ethical & Environmental Bonus
We are so excited to announce our recent collaboration with Appalatch Clothing. Appalatch told us, "One glaring place that we would love to improve upon is the use of natural instead of synthetic dyes which we know is more toxic to people and the environment. Unfortunately, we haven't found an American industrial dye house that [...] Continue Reading -
Clothing to Dye For: The Guardian Features Botanical Colors
It's no surprise that the fashion industry is coming under close scrutiny for damage done to our most precious resource: water. According to an article in Treehugger, a single mill in China can use 200 tons of water for each ton of fabric it dyes; many rivers run with the colors of the season as [...] Continue Reading