tannin Archives - Botanical Colors

Mordant Monday: What is Dunging?

Cellulose fibers are the most common fiber that we start with as cotton fabric is readily available and affordable. However, cotton does not have the same affinity for natural dyes as protein fibers such as wool, so the cellulose mordant process is different to achieve good results. The mordant process for cellulose fibers includes pretreating with a tannin, then immersing the tannin treated fabric into an alum solution. This method is one of the earliest mordant methods for cellulose fibers and produces very good results. We use this method regularly as we also love to experiment with different tannins to … Read more

Twilight Tannins with Cara Marie Piazza (Formerly Tannin Grayscale) – March 16th

Description Twilight Tannins Online workshop with Cara Piazza Formerly called Tannin Grayscale MARCH 16TH, 2025 10AM PST / 1PM EST The workshop will be recorded and available for 180 days after purchase. The backstory: Cara is famous for her moody, New York state of mind color palettes, and the tannin mordanted fat quarters are perfect for showing off these rich shades with subtle colorations and unusual hues. We called her workshop “Tannin Grayscale” as a nod to graphic designers who will add a touch of gray to a color in order to create a more vivid hue. However, now that … Read more

Mordant Monday: A Rainbow Compilation!

We wanted to compile all of our rainbow tutorials so you could have access to them all in the same place. We love creating them for you, and seeing the beautiful creations you make with your tutorials. Tannins provide a rich base for creating a rainbow of color. Please tag us on social media so we can see what you make! Try making the rainbow yourself!

Tannin Grayscale with Cara Marie Piazza

Tannin Grayscale Online workshop with Cara Piazza Online workshop held on Saturday January 25, 2025 10AM-1PM Pacific / 1 – 4pm Eastern The workshop will be recorded and available for 120 days after purchase. Learn how to create moody gray gradations using our pre-mordanted cotton fabric fat quarters, natural dyes, logwood and a few surprises. Tannins are a bitter and astringent compound found so abundantly in many plants. In food, they serve as the slight pucker in black coffee and tea, and the “oaky” flavor in aged wines. Tannins are used in medicine and for leather tanning. For us, … Read more

Tannin Rainbow Online workshop with Kathy Hattori

Tannin Rainbow Online workshop with Kathy Hattori Online workshop held on Saturday January 18, 2025 10AM-1PM Pacific The workshop will be recorded and available for 120 days after purchase. Learn how to create striking color gradations using our pre-mordanted cotton fabric fat quarters, natural dyes, indigo and a few surprises. Tannins are a bitter and astringent compound found so abundantly in many plants. In food, they serve as the slight pucker in black coffee and tea, and the “oaky” flavor in aged wines. Tannins are used in medicine and for leather tanning. For us, they are the natural dyer’s not-so-secret-weapon … Read more

Mordant Monday: Kakishibu (Persimmon Tannin)

Kakishibu samples clockwise from top: paste resist by Kentaro Kojima, silk, cotton sashiko thread, cotton with iron, soda ash and kakishibu alone. Natural dyes are fascinating because we can see the history of human curiosity and imagination as it interacts with the natural world. Like, who looked at a hard, green, horribly astringent, inedible persimmon fruit and thought “You know, there’s probably an amazing, insect-repelling, anti-microbial, water-resistant, beautiful color in there if I just ferment it for a couple of years with a slice of eggplant.” Who, exactly? Whoever that clever person was, we have them to thank for one … Read more

MORDANT MONDAY: Do I Need To Mordant When Using Liquid Tannin?

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 am using your liquid tannin on cotton. Beyond scouring, I was wondering if it is sufficient to use liquid tannin (on cotton t-shirts) as a mordant before using the other liquid dyes? Or, do I need to mordant cottons at all when using these liquids? Do I need to alum them as well? I have aluminum triformate currently so was thinking to use this. KATHY ANSWERED: I hope I’m answering your question here. If you want to use Liquid … Read more

You Asked, Kathy Answered: Tannin Printing

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 [email protected] with your plea for help! YOU ASKED: I’m considering adding a tannin to my order. But I have a question: does it make sense to tannin bathe an alum + washing soda print prior to dye bath? What I mean is scour > tannin bath > dry fabric > print pattern with mordant paste > dry > wheat … Read more

MORDANT MONDAY: How To Reuse A Tannin Bath

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’m wondering if its possible to reuse a tannin bath, perhaps by using half as much tannin powder the second time as one can do when re using a mordant bath? Recently I have made a tannin bath for linen and have lots left over, it would be great not to throw it out! Secondly, I usually rinse the fabric after mordanting and before dyeing- is this correct? KATHY ANSWERED: I think recharging and reusing tannin baths … Read more

You Asked, Kathy Answered: Oak Tannins On Cotton

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 am curious about some results I’ve been having using oak as my tannin bath for cotton fibers. As far as my experimentation goes I first tried freshly fallen oak leaf— still green, as a pre-mordant tannin bath at around 50% WoF. I found the fibers turned a dark purple color, … Read more