seattle Archives - Botanical Colors

Sunday Visit: California Dreaming with Jody Alexander

For this week’s Sunday Visit, we catch up with California-based mixed media artist Jody Alexander. Jody is a mixed media artist who lives and works in Santa Cruz and Penn Valley, California. She combines textiles, paper, found items and imagery to create books, objects, wall pieces, garments, and installations. Her current work is inspired by the art of repair, reuse, imagery and stories encountered in her travels and everyday. We’re so excited that Jody will also be our LAST Botanical Colors class of this year BUT the first in our new studio space. Yes, we’ll be teaching in real life … Read more

Construction Techniques with Aboubakar Fofana: Create a Pair of Stripcloth Trousers

Video From Aboubakar Fofana (LIVE) Bamako Studio Tour!

Last time on FEEDBACK FRIDAY, we welcomed back Malian artist, educator, indigo farmer and friend, Aboubakar Fofana. Aboubakar took us for a live tour of his Bamako studio where we saw him harvest indigo, do some indigo dyeing, got to meet his artisans and see all the amazingness that is Aboubakar on his home turf. We received so many nice emails from people expressing how wonderful this episode was. You won’t want to miss it. More about Aboubakar and his summer residency with us: Botanical Colors is pleased to announce that we are hosting Aboubakar Fofana for a month-long 2022 … Read more

RSVP: LIVE FEEDBACK FRIDAY With Botanical Colors’ Founder Kathy Hattori

Join us September 11th, 9am Pacific, 12 pm Eastern for a live Zoom FEEDBACK FRIDAY with Botanical Colors’ Founder Kathy Hattori. We are going old school this week with Kathy answering all the natural dye/mordant/process questions we can get to. Send your questions ahead of time to me (Amy) at [email protected]. RSVP for FEEDBACK FRIDAY with Kathy Hattori HERE. What Botanical Colors Does: The way that conventional color is applied to clothes is broken. “Wet processing” as industrial dyeing is called, is one of the top polluters in the world, consuming enormous amounts of energy, water and petrochemical based colorants. … Read more

VIDEO: LightArt + Botanical Colors Create Natural Dye Chandelier

From Printmaking to Indigo Vats, Artist Aleksander Wozniak Explores Color

Aleksander Wozniak is a Poland-based artist, printmaker, and teacher at the University of Warmia and Mazury in the city of Olsztyn. He is also the head of an academic printmaking studio, where he teaches planographic printing techniques (stone lithography, aluminium lithography). Though focused on traditional and experimental printmaking, “as a unique source of inspiration and integral element of creative and pedagogic attitude,” Aleksander is also a lover of color and recently tried out our “Easy, Organic Indigo Vat.” Check out his results! Images: Aleksander Wozniak

A VIP Indigo Dye Party with Sustainable Powerhouses

Last weekend we decided to get some of our favorite Seattle folks together for a private dyeing party and show them how much fun one can have putting color to cloth. In attendance were Sarah Menzies filmmaker, director and general mind-blower of Let Media, model, activist and humanitarian Kate Dillon who works for forestry protection through Code REDD, business coach Tara Wefers as well as Leslie Ross who is keeping Seattle in proper planetary alignment. There were lots of “Oooohs” and Aaahhhhs” and fun new tricks happened upon by accident but the one thing we loved most? Getting a fantastic … Read more

Studio Time with Brooklyn’s Dogwood Dyer

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 in her urban Brooklyn street-side planters completely free of chemicals. Cataloging madder in the studio To reduce the impact of the water intensive dyeing process, 80% of her dye water is recycled back into her garden and she uses fibers like alpaca, mohair and Cormo … Read more

Social Change Through Indigo, Shibori and EILEEN FISHER

This past weekend we had the pleasure of collaborating with EILEEN FISHER’S GREEN EILEEN team at a workshop in Seattle at the Hillman City Collaboratory. The Collaboratory is a center for the arts and an incubator for social change with a mission to create a space of transformation including the built environment and the programming specifically designed to create community and equip change-makers. The Collaboratory is housed in a multi-use complex that incorporates four unique spaces: the mixing chamber, the coworking office, the learning kitchen, and the community park & garden. Attendees learned the Japanese art of shibori and natural … Read more