Natural Dyes Archives - Page 9 of 32

Video From FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Social Artist + Activist Ellie Irons

Last week on FEEDBACK FRIDAY, we welcomed socially engaged artist and educator Ellie Irons. Ellie talked about her Feral and Invasive Pigments project, a public fieldwork, writing, and studio-based project that revolves around making watercolor paint from the leaves, petals, and berries of the spontaneous plant beings (aka weeds) who thrive in areas heavily impacted by urbanization, industrialization, and climate change. Watch the recording below. Links: Instagram Website About Ellie Irons: Ellie Irons is an artist and educator living and working on Mohican land in current-day Troy, New York, USA. From foraged watercolor paintings to un-lawning experiments, her work combines … Read more

Video From FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Masagana Flower Farm & Studio

Last week on FEEDBACK FRIDAY, we had Manitoba, Canada based Lourdes Still talking about the Masagana Flower Farm & Studio. According to Here’s How It’s Done: First-hand Stories From Enterprising Women In Manitoba, “Lourdes Still is the first to admit it’s a winding road that landed her in business. She’s gone from big-city living in the Philippines to rural life in south-eastern Manitoba. From growing flowers on the balcony of her city apartment to launching Masagana Flower Farm & Studio. There’s no doubt that it takes ambition and a lot of hard work to run a small scale flower farm … Read more

Video From FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Fish Skin Tanner + Dyer Lotta Nelson-Rahme

Last week we welcomed world-renowned fish skin tanner and dyer, Sweden-based Lotta Nelson-Rahme. Lotta took us on an interesting journey into how she got into tanning and her travels around the world in search of knowledge. She also showed some leather work and a spotlight on an exhibition she recently made to honor and thank the women who share their knowledge with her. Lotta also went into more detail about tanning fish skins and how she dyes the skins using heather, rhubarb, pine cones and iron. We got lots of emails and messages on social media about how much you … 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

Video From Live FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Carol Padberg

Last week on FEEDBACK FRIDAY we welcomed artist, writer, educator and founding director of the Nomad MFA Carol Padberg. Carol has an art and ecology studio where she weaves with living Oyster mushrooms, using yarn that is colored by plants from her backyard dye garden. She uses regenerative agricultural strategies to maintain a city micro-farm called Nook Farm House. Carol Padberg’s FEEDBACK FRIDAY presentation took us into the world of interspecies art, in which a flock of sheep, a dye garden, soil organisms, Oyster mushrooms and a human being weave their stories together. The resulting living textile art is designed … Read more

Video From Live FEEDBACK FRIDAY: The Mushroom Color Atlas

Last FEEDBACK FRIDAY, we had Mushroom Color Atlas Founder, Julie Beeler! Julie talked about her Mushroom Color Atlas which is a resource and reference for everyone curious about mushrooms and the beautiful and subtle colors derived from them. Julie says the atlas is also the start of a journey and a point of departure, introducing people to the kaleidoscopic fungi kingdom and our connection to it. Her hope is that everyone will be inspired to learn more about the mycological world, and begin to understand the importance of the networks, connections and symbiotic relationships that live in our forests. Most … Read more

Video From Live FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Sara Goodman

Our last FEEDBACK FRIDAY was with textile artist and natural dyer Sara Goodman whose textile background is pretty prolific including helping to get the Symplocos Project off the ground in Indonesia, serving on the Board of Directors of the Goodweave Foundation and teaching for decades the art of weaving and natural dyeing. Sara talked about her work and travels in pursuit of textiles around the world and now as Dye Studio Manager at New Hampshire based Sanborn Mills Farm’s being part of a team teaching traditional crafts and farming methods. Did we mention she also just co-founded the Northern New … Read more

FEEDBACK FRIDAY: In Baltimore’s Blue Light Junction Studio With Kenya Miles

Our last FEEDBACK FRIDAY was with Kenya Miles. Kenya is the artist and alchemist behind Traveling Miles Studio and founder of Blue Light Junction, a natural dye studio, alternative color lab, retail space, dye garden and educational facility in central Baltimore. In January 2022 Blue Light Junction opened its inaugural Ibura Art & Research Residency to support 6 individuals investigation and praxis in botanical color and medicine. Founded by textile artist, farmer, and natural dye practitioner Kenya Miles, Blue Light Junction focuses on growing, processing, and preserving the history of natural dyes and their artistic, practical, and commercial applications. Watch the … Read more

VIDEO From FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Jason Logan of Toronto Ink Company

Last week on FEEDBACK FRIDAY we had Jason Logan, Founder of The Toronto Ink Company. Jason looked at the many layers of meaning that ink can be and how that definition relates to the larger world of natural color and finding color in unlikely places. He also talked about working in, and with, and as a part of nature as an urban color forager. We also got to see some great sneak peeks of a film he is working on. Watch the recording below. Jason says: “Most importantly, this hour aims to embrace the opportunity to get a bunch of … Read more

Video From Live FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Making Green With Natural Dyes

This week on FEEDBACK FRIDAY we had Botanical Colors President Kathy Hattori show us how to make green with natural dyes. Using powdered fustic, weld, and as Kathy calls it, “a new crazy chlorophyll mixture,” she showed the versatility of our dyes to achieve colors maybe you’ve only dreamed of. Watch the video here: Recipes and suggestions -Dye mordanted wool and silk fibers in 10% fustic, then transfer to another dye bath with 10% Saxon Blue to get a vivid lime green -Dye mordanted cotton or linen fibers in 10% fustic, then transfer to another dye bath with 0.5% iron … Read more