News — cotton

Mordanting is an essential step to prepare your fabric to hold on to the pigment you expose it to. There are many ways to mordant fabric because there are a number of different chemical process that work. Plants with high tannin content can act as a natural mordant, but will usually impart a color to the fabric as well. The process I include below is a two step process. I use a recipe I learned from Botanicalcolors.com and I feel that this process gives me very vibrant dye results with long lasting color. You can also purchase mordants from their...

Scouring cotton before dyeing with botanicals is an essential step. Before dyeing and mordanting you must scour away any build up that's within the cotton fibers. Whether it's a new cotton shirt that most likely has an artificial/chemical layer for softness or an old t shirt that picks up your own body oils, these particles need to be scrubbed away so that plant pigments can get into the cotton fibers.  This process is just for cotton items, it can be used on hemp as well, but not for silk, wool, or any protein based fiber. Because you are boiling your...