oak galls Archives - Botanical Colors

You Asked, Kathy Answered: Making Oak Tannin Powder

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 would like to use oak galls for a tannin bath, and we live in an oak forest so I have a large bag full! Can you explain how to go about making my own powdered oak tannin powder. I am hoping it could be as simple as just putting the … Read more

Video From LIVE FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Zapotec Textile Artist + Natural Dyer Porfirio Gutíerrez

Last week on FEEDBACK FRIDAY we had Zapotec textile artist, natural dyer, researcher, educator Porfirio Gutíerrez. Porfirio talked about his educational and artistic work now based in his Ventura, California studio and gave us a tour. Watch the video recording below: Some of the dyes that Porfirio talked about that we sell: Oak galls Pericón Cochineal Porfirio Gutíerrez is known internationally for his exceptional devotion to the textile traditions of his home pueblo of Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca, a richly historic Zapotec textile artist community. His mission has been reinvigorating and preserving natural dyeing techniques for future generations both in … Read more

10 Tannins That Don’t Need a Mordant

There are so many mordant variations and we urge you to experiment and find the one that works best for you. If you’re not familiar with the term, mordanting is the most important process of preparing fibers to accept color. Mordanting prepares fibers to bond with natural dyes and is typically a separate immersion bath for the fibers. Many natural dyes require the use of a mordant to achieve the most durable and long lasting colors. Though you might start with the tried and true aluminum mordants, consider trying tannin-rich extracts that not only offer a base color, they prep … Read more