Video From LIVE FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Dyes of the Américas

This week’s FEEDBACK FRIDAY was with Botanical Colors’ President Kathy Hattori who talked about and demoed Dyes of the Américas. We went through some native colors from North, Central and South America that are included in our new dye kit, Dyes of the Américas, as well as some locally grown specialties from our network of dye growers.

Watch the video recording here:

We’ve been working with some of the culturally significant and historical dyes that are native to the Americas. Many of these colors date back to ancient indigenous people, some used as early as the second century BC by Aztec and Maya civilizations. We covered osage, cochineal, coreopsis, walnut, pericon and logwood. Kathy also threw in a few surprises of related species and their colors as well.

Many of the most storied and legendary dyes are native to the Americas and were a prized source for the dye houses of Europe. We’ve created our Dyes of the Américas Sampler to showcase these beautiful colors. Each dyestuff is native to North, South or Central America. Many were used culturally by indigenous civilizations long before European conquest. The kit contains sample sizes of logwood, cochineal, osage, pericon, coreopsis and walnut along with description and its origin.   The color yield from these dyes is logwood – purple, cochineal – red, pericon – gold, coreopsis – orange, and walnut – brown.

We’ve included tannin and alum and a length of organic calico so you can create samples, eco-print or experiment as you please.  Instructions for using each dye are on our website and linked here.

Join us this week, January 15th, 9am Pacific, 12pm Eastern for a live Zoom FEEDBACK FRIDAY with Heidi Iverson, Founder of Honeyfolk Clothing. Heidi was one of the original founders of Fibershed, an organization we love and respect so much.

RSVP here.

FEEDBACK FRIDAY

If you are not familiar with FEEDBACK FRIDAY, every week, we speak with dyers, artists, scientists and scholars about our favorite topic, natural dyeing and color. Curated by Amy DuFault, Botanical Colors’ Sustainability and Social Media Director and presented by Botanical Colors’ Founder Kathy Hattori. We even have our own original Zoom song. It’s true!