ph Archives - Botanical Colors

MORDANT MONDAY: Alum + Tannin & Line Fade

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 live in India and where I live there is a lot of rust in the water. When I have tried to do a tannin-alum procedure before dyeing I noticed as soon as I put my fabric in the alum after the oak gall soak my fabric turns grey!!! The alum I have is alum sulfate for cotton because I don’t have alum acetate. I am trying symplocos now. Any suggestions how to avoid staining all material grey?? KATHY … Read more

FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Indigo Painting + Indigo Vats

This week: Indigo painting and temperamental indigo vats

Botanical Colors Natural Dye Glossary

There are so many terms and techniques in the natural dye space that we decided to create a natural dye glossary for you! Unless you work in a natural dye house full-time or have been doing dyeing since time immemorial, you’re not apt to know everything. We created this glossary of terms so that you can look like a plant dye master and a natural dyeing pro. Well, at least you’ll sound like it. Check out the terms below and shoot us an email if you think we left something out and need to add it! Natural Dye Glossary Alkaline: … Read more

FEEDBACK FRIDAY: This Week in Natural Dye Questions

This week: What’s all this pH talk with indigo vats and cruelty free color for yarn

FEEDBACK FRIDAY: This Week in Natural Dye Questions

This week: Substantive dyes and checking the pH of your vat

FEEDBACK FRIDAY: This Week in Natural Dye Questions

Each week, we are emailed with questions from our natural dye community asking simple and complex questions that we thought might be worth sharing. Here are a handful from this week answered by natural dyer in chief, Kathy Hattori, Founder of Botanical Colors: 1. When scouring fabrics, is it ok to use a washing machine (hot water setting) if the fabric is too large (approximately 1 yard) for the stockpot or does it always need to be simmered in the pot on the stove? Will you see a difference in terms of cleanness of the fabric? Cleaning the fabric prior … Read more

Research on Natural Dyes That Change Color in Reaction to PH levels of Rainwater

Just when we think we’ve heard it all, Rain Palette from Dahea Sun aims to provide an easy and poetic approach to visualizing air quality through rainwater and natural dyes. The works Dahea has developed are dyed with natural dyes that will change color in reaction to the pH levels of rainwater and aims to provide an at-a-glance indication of atmospheric air quality, with the potential for wearers to record and upload rain pH readings online to create a global database of real-time environmental data. SO cool. More here. Images: Rain Palette from Dahea Sun