Contact Us

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Old Market Manor, Barton Manor
Bristol, BS2 0RL

Artisan natural dye studio, using locally foraged and organically grown natural dyes, bio-regionally sourced cloth and paper and low impact traditional and contemporary printmaking techniques. Offering limited edition gifts, bespoke services and a range of workshops to help creatives transition to using non-toxic practices and connecting communities with Nature using creativity as a medium.

Natural Dye Productions

natural DYE

PRODUCTIONS

Would you like to USE NATURAL DYES IN YOUR COLLECTION?

WE OFFER:

  • ORGANIC NATURAL DYES

  • YARN DYEING

  • FABRIC DYEING - ON THE ROLL 50+ METRES OR PIECE DYEING 1-3 M PIECES

  • GARMENT DYEING

  • THREAD DYEING

  • UK BASED NATURAL DYEING

  • NO MINIMUMS

  • LARGE SCALE PRODUCTIONS

  • COLOUR MATCHING SERVICES

  • PLANT OR MINERAL MORDANTS

  • YARN - TO CONE + CONE TO YARN WINDING

HOW WE WORK:

We offer small & large scale services to designers and brands.

We have some simple specifications which we choose to honour in all of our work, to be aligned with a soil-to-soil approach to design and productions:

  • We only work with 100% natural fibres, such as silk, linen, cotton, hemp, alpaca etc. Which have been grown, processed and manufactred without the use of any harmful synthetic chemicals such as bleach and finishing agents.

  • We do not work with any sythetic materials, including polyester, elastine & acrylic content fabrics, elastic and plastic zips.

  • We do not work with man-made natural fibre materials such as bamboo, tencel, lyocell and viscose due to the highly toxic chemical processes involved in their productions, including those processed in a “closed loop” chemical system. We prefer to work with 100% natural soil-to-soil production systems that require no nasty chemicals at any stage of the growing, processing and manufacture.

  • We choose to only work with materials which have been sourced as locally as possible. For us this looks like sustainably sourced British wools, organic uk-grown peace silk, European-grown linen and hemp, organic unbleached cotton grown in europe or Turkey. From suppliers with ethical standards. We recommend sourcing fibres and fabrics with the minimum transportation logistics, ie vertically integrated in the origin country.

  • We only use organic natural dyes extracted from plants, minerals and sometimes shellac insects such as cochineal and lac.

  • We prefer to use organic natural plant based mordants to fix colour, and also offer the option to work with alum and iron, which are the only non-toxic mineral mordants we are comfortable to work with. We will not work with copper, tin, chrome or other toxic metals.

  • We prioritse working with people who are aligned with our soil-to-soil ethos & approach their work with ecologiy and ethical practice at the heart.

  • We are here in service to provide a kind, gentle and safe way of bringing colour into our human world, with respect to nature and all living beings and ecosystems on this living planet.

  • We have our own in-house unbleached fabrics we work with for productions, including linen/organic cotton/hemp blends and organic British-grown and EU processed peace silk. We also work with local English regeneraive wool farmers for yarns for knitting and weaving. We are happy to use any of these options or your own fabrics and yarns if they meet our above requirements only.

  • We are open to working with locally manufactured recycled fabrics, which have not been bleached or chemically processed or finished, and washed with natural detergents only.

FAQ’s

  • Do you dye meterage of cloth?

    Yes, from 1-20 metres in-house, or larger order up to 1000’s metres in an external dye house facility which we hire per job. For larger dye productions of fabric on the roll we have a minimum production of 50 metres, and also 50 metres per colour.

  • Do you piece dye garments?

    Yes, 1- 50 pieces in house and larger orders, about 100-500 pcs can be dyed the same colour in one vat, and we can do several different colour in one production as required.

  • Do you dye yarn?

    Yes, we can dye 100s to 1000s to even tonnes of natural fibre (100% wool/linen/coton/silk) in the yarn - you can provide on the hank or cone. We dye on the hank and can provide your yarn back to you on hank or cone, as required.

  • What are the minimum order quantities?

    We do not have a minimum or max order. We work to your requirments. For small runs of 1-15 pieces or 1-20 metres we tend to do this in-house with our large vats. For larger runs we hire a UK-based, external dye house facility to access larger equipment. Everything is thoroughly washed down with organic soaps before productions.

  • What are the lead times?

    This will depend on the size of your order - expect about 2-3 weeks as a rough estimate.

  • What does it cost to dye per metre or per item?

    Again this is very much dependent on your specific dyeing requirements. Prices vary depending on the level of labour and cost of materials involved, the number of colourways/ variations and the quantity ordered. For example indigo dye will be much more expensive than a water-based dye. Some dyes will require extra dyeing steps and therefore longer processing times for mordanting/overdyeing/modifcations/surface applications etc. And there higher quantity of items of meterage, the lower the cost per piece/metre. We tend to advise ordering at least 50-100 pcs/metres to get a more accessible and commercial price point for retail.

  • What fabrics and fibres will you dye?

    Any 100% natural and unbleached or recycled/vintage fabrics and fibres. From as a local a source as possible - ie linen grown in Europe, Organic unbleached cotton from Turkey, Wool from the British Isles, Peace silk from the British Isles and Europe.

  • Will you dye our white organic t-shirts?

    No! We do not support the production of white t-shirts because they are bleached to remove the natural ecru/grey fibre colour to make them white. Usually with peroxide - even the “sun bleached” cottons from India tend to have a sneaky bleach process involved, so please don’t be fooled.

  • Will you dye recycled fibres?

    Yes, as long as they are 100% natural fibres

How we work:

We recommend booking an initial consultation call before sampling + productions, to get clear on what your project requirements are, with the support of our our knowledge and expertise.

We can then set up a sampling service to match or define your colour palette with your chosen fibres (fabrics/yarn/paper/threads/garments) and any patterning or surface design.

Once the sampling service is complete and samples have been signed off, we are able to offer estimated costs and can go into production.

consultation calls - with Botanical Inks owner and Bristol Cloth producer, Babs Behan, are available to offer professional advise on all areas of natural dyeing, ink and paint making, printmaking, materials sourcing, colour palette and fastness advise, soil-to-soil textile systems, large scale natural dye productions and any other area we may be able to help you with.

SAMPLING SERVICE - This is a requirement before all production services -

We receive printed pantone paper samples of your chosen colours along with small samples of your chosen fibre(fabrics/yarns/papers)

1-2 weeks depending on size of job. We match the colours as closely as possible by eye and using our skilled expertise in natural colours and colour blending and natural dyeing processes learned over 2 decades of experience. This is a highly skilled process and takes time. Different fibres or fabrics will take the same dye differetnly with different colour outcomes and it can take time to create cohesion and consistency.

Once completed, we can then offer a quote for the dyeing production, based on the level of work and cost of materials required.

Recipes are then scaled up for your production.

Min price for sampling service: £350


PRODUCTIONS

MOQ’s: There are no min or max orders.

Lead times:

fabric dyeing: We dye up to est. 100 metres of fabric per week at present

yarn + thread dyeing: We work with external facilities to dye yarn + thread and can dye several tonnes per week

We recommend you book in your sampling and production at least 2-3 months in advance to secure a slot in our busy schedule.

We currently have availability Aug/Sept 2021 and then take a break from productions until Spring 2022

Prodcutions include dyeing of fabrics by the metre in max 2-3 metre pieces, piece dyeing garments, yarn on the hank or cone, printmaking with block or screen prints on fabric or paper, hand-painting, surface applications inclusing bundle dyeing/ eco-printing, shibori tie-dye, dip dyeing and scrunch dyeing.

We are an artisan studio specialising in experimental bespoke natural dyeing projects.

Please email babs hello@botanicalinks.com now to enquire/book your natural dyeing services directly.