This week: How Much Water in the Dye Pot? Pungent wool and husbands, and ratios of extract to fabric.
wool
Wheat Bran Questions for FEEDBACK FRIDAY
This week: We answer wheat bran questions and other inquiries about natural dyes in this week’s Feedback Friday.
Saxon Blue vs Indigo Lightfastness Questions for FEEDBACK FRIDAY
This week: Saxon Blue battles Indigo for light and washfastness and tips for getting olive green.
Starting a Dye Garden Questions for FEEDBACK FRIDAY
This week: How to start a natural dye garden, where to train in natural dyeing and how to extract color from eucalyptus.
Why is My Fabric Streaky for FEEDBACK FRIDAY
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
Rinsing Dyed Fiber Questions for FEEDBACK FRIDAY
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