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: I am trying to dye large pieces of both linen and wool fabric (36″ x 56″) but I am having trouble with streaking. Do you have any tips on how to get a more even appearance? I believe part of my problem is keeping all the fabric submerged, it just keeps wanting to bubble up. I stir … Read more

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: When do I know when I should stop rinsing my yarn after dyeing? If the fibers seem to be bleeding excessive amounts of dye while you are rinsing, stop and let the freshly dyed fibers air dry completely. Once the fibers are dry, then rinse and air dry. It seems like there’s a still a little color … Read more

Tips For Pokeberry Dyeing on Wool

We’re pretty obsessed with pokeberry dyeing right now for dyeing wool, making ink and just squishing them up and dropping them on paper. They are SO intense and exciting to use. I visited Japanese textile artist and katazome instructor John Marshall in his studio in Covelo, Mendocino County and was surprised to see that his entire front yard was covered in pokeberry bushes. Although pokeberries are native to most of the the United States, I had never even heard of them and was browsing through Rebecca Burgess’ book Harvesting Color on natural dyes when I spotted a beautiful red skein … Read more