NOURISHMENT

There is much beauty to be found in cultivating rituals which nourish your Self

& are equally nourishing to the Earth.

Creativity can be used as a tool for embodiment, for better connecting to Nature, Beauty & a state of Flow.

Throughout this month of February I am sharing creative rituals and special recipes which can cultivate deeper experiences.

Natural dyes which bring us into grounded stillness & undeniable presence, plant dyes which connect to the heartspace and create a sense of warmth, love and calm…And multi-sensory dye techniques which generate uplifting joy and playfulness while also harvesting tactile, colourful and aromatic pleasures.

Join me and the Botanical Inks online community by signing up to my mailing list,

and receive an enriching email offering each Sunday.

With much warmth, Babs :) xx

Soil To Soil

Ted X Bath “Interconnected”

Babs Behan

A narrative that weaves together the connection between our bodily skin & that of the Earth

To shine a light on our lost natural dye traditions.

I hope you enjoy listening & I’d be ever so happy to hear your feedback, thoughts, reflections, questions or musings.

Please do leave a comment :) xx

Let’s talk about soil to soil textiles more & make this a bigger conversation!

With thanks, Babs :)) xxx

GIFT GUIDE

Want to gift sustainably, or even better, regeneratively this Xmas?

Heres some inspirations for you :) xx

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Bristol Cloth Cashmere Edition

Holistically farmed Cashmere from Devon, hand dyed with organic indigo + madder root, artisan woven in Bristol

£650.00

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Bristol Cloth 2nd Edition Blanket Scarf

Regeneratively farmed Somerset lambswool, organic natural dyes and artisan weaving - all within 15 miles of Bristol

£160.00

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Natural Dye Kits

Everything you need to dye your own silk scarf!

Bundle up with a workshop recording or a signed copy of my book?

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Signed copies of my book!

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Raw Edge Silk Scarves

Uniquely dyed with organic natural dyes

+ locally harvested flowers

Tedx Bath

I’m still fluttering with all the excitement and nerves of having just stepped of the stage at Tedx Bath, delivering my talk on soil-to-soil textiles and the importance and beauty of natural dyes..!!

My talk is something I have been thinking about, writing, re-working and memorising for such a long time now..

I actually was approached by Tedx Bath 2 years ago with the invitation to speak at their 2020 event.

Of course, the event couldn’t go ahead, so it’s been on the back burner for a very long time now, and only a couple of months back we got the go ahead for the live in person event in Bath.

It wasn’t clear if we would definitely be able to do it, so it was created as a semi in-person and semi-online event, to cover all bases as who knows what to expect these days!

I’ve spent most of the past couple weeks revising my script while hiking through local natural spaces around Bristol, Bath and the Mendips, pacing and repeating my lines to trees and sheep in the hills and probably looking quite strange to dog walkers along the local river path..!

I was invited to Bath Spa University to the their incredible TV studio to film a pre-record of the talk, in case the live event couldn’t go ahead, to practise and also to prepare the translators and help them get used to my voice as the talk is being translated into Spanish, Hindi, Mandarin, Portuguese and French.

Below is the full line-up of speaks who took part in the event, which took place over two nights on Thursday 18th and Friday 19th November ‘21.

I had the pleasure of watching lovely Dr Andy Georgiou and incredible Kate Raworth before me - A very hard act to follow!!

And then the charming Ewandro Magalhaes, brilliant Sushma Jansari, curator at the British Museum and gorgeous Eddie Ilic from Street Cuts. Who were all completely amazing and fascinating to hearing speak their stories. I highly recommend listening to them all if you can!

The live recordings are now being edited and will be ready to release in a couple of weeks, and I will let you know right away when my talk is up on Youtube to watch…I’m so looking forward to seeing it and sharing it with you!! :))) xxx

Fallen Leaf

Botanical Inks + Ob_Wear

A capsule range of seven unique Oak and Chestnut hand painted shirts.
The Autumnal fruits of a truly love-driven project, two years in the making.

Natural pigments. Hand painted. Khadi cotton.

Available for purchase 25.09.21.

I hope that by inviting Oak and Chestnut into our garments and wearing them close to our skin and through our lives, that we may feel a sense of gentle, yet strongly rooted and stable, holding, to carry us through our days.

Providing the empowered strength we need to rise above challenges, stronger and wiser.

- Babs, founder of Botanical Inks

As I walk through the woods at this time of year, I am present to the strong aroma of the trees which seems more heightened than ever. I‘ve come to understand that the trees emit a sweet bio-chemical fragrance, which lulls creatures & animals back into the to shelter of their of roots and bows.

A well seasoned forager once told me that in these isles our forager-gather ancestors would have been following trails of blackberries from the coast upstream, feasting on raw fish and caviar as they approached the warmth and safety of the woods, to take Winter in. With access to all the foods- the root and wild meats, shelter and energy for the cold season ahead.

Testing Windfall Leaf Inks On Fabric Scraps

I was reminded of this vision as I brewed those large vats of windfall foliage. The aromatic tree language was thick in the air, moistening every moment with a lulling, comforting, earthy, good-feeling atmosphere. 

Like a mist that enveloped the space with a trance-inducing euphoria that is not of the higher realms of the mind and vision, but a deeper, more grounded and embodied presence, drawing down to the lower cauldrons of my body - the inner spaces of heart and womb.

Rich, earthy, fertile notes of nutrient dense humus, felt within the cells of my body and through that scent filling the room. 

Every plant has a different character of fragrance and offers a unique somatic experience, if you allow yourself to become sensitive enough to welcome them in.

As I sit and recall those moments now, the comfort I felt at being in that space. I’m reminded of how it might feel to be in the presence of a strong and deeply rooted person - perhaps a father or grandfather. That unconscious feeling of safety and protection that provides the space to drop, to let go and be simply held in his confident, grounded masculine strength.

And that is how I get to feel when I walk through the park and the big, old trees that have been standing there for 100 or 200 years. 

There's something in that grounded presence of the ancient oaks and chestnut trees. Such big and strong, wisened elders.

When I feel lacking in inner strength, I know I can can go & be in the company of tall ancient Oaks and Chestnuts, and part of me is able to rebalance again.

As a natural dyer, my practise is in drawing these herbal characteristics into textiles, imbuing our garments and fabrics with the herbal support we wish for.

I heard a story once that in olden days, before the witch trials, when our communities were populated with women (and some men) who held the knowledge of the plants, were able to speak with them and work with them to help others. The herbalists, healers, midwives, natural dyers.. They would make their herbal brews and add their undergarments to soak in their medicinal essences. To then be worn next to the most sensitive parts of the skin.

It’s good to note that the skin is the largest organ of the body. Its a semipermeable membrane ie porous and absorbs that which it touches. 

Our feet swell with water when we enter the sea or river, helping us to navigate our way over rocks more easefully. When we sweat we absorb even more of that which our skin touches.

In fact, the reality is that there is no such thing as a 100% solid object in the world..everything vibrates, sheds, absorbs and interacts with the next thing, constantly reverberating and moving, changing and growing. Including rocks and crystals, trees, fungi, animals, water, clouds..All constantly changing and interacting in an endless cycle.

So, might point comes back to, that we would benefit from being conscious and intentional about what we choose to place next to our skin. And that we can be very intentional about it, and choose to imbue ourselves with the herbal essences of the plants which can support us the most at different times. 

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We are always changing, and our moods, health, situations and challenges. Its a beautiful practice to know which plant allies can offer support to our different states of being.

And this is why we could all benefit from getting to know the plants around us, and how our ancestors knew them and invited them into their homes and lives.

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Bristol Cloth

A Heartening Success

WOW

Thank you all so much for making this happen!

We raised over £18,000 through our Bristol Cloth crowd funder, which has funded the production of the first 200 metres of cloth.

The suiting quality is back from the finishers and has been sent our to our backers and on to our taiors and be made into locally sewn garments and accessories for you wondeful crowdfunder backers!

The second fluffier quality finish for our scarves is due to be back any day along with all of our scarves and throws, which I can then start sending out to the rest of the campaign pledges of wonderousness.

It looks like we have some surplus stock - by some delightful miracle of joyous wonder!

So please go on and buy yourself some scarves and meterage of cloth immediatley and be part of the final chapter of this heart opening and soul nourishing story of support, ecology, forward moving, boundary breaking, future envisioning and mmove making, community nourishing, heritage preserving awesomeness..!

This is the last chance to buy and own some of this unique BRISTOL CLOTH

I am joyously awed by the far-reaching and expectation-superceeding impact it has had…

Not only did the crowdfunder campaign allow over 400 people to come together and crowdsource over £18,000 for the manufacture of the first 200 mteres of Bristol Cloth, the UK’s frst regeneratively farmed, organically plant dyed and artisan woven cloth, grown and manufactured entirely within the UK..

It became a national story…!! Shared across BBC and Sky News and even our beloved Countryfile…A true British institution!

As much as I believed and knew this project would be a great success …this has been waaaay beyond all possible pre-conceived expectations…

Thank you to every single one of you who participated by sharing and contributing and making this such an incredible story!

Thank YOU for being part of this and making this potentiality and reality.

Such gratitude to every one of you who have shared this story wih your friends, lovers, co-workers, family and community at larhe and the ones who wrote about us in magazies and newspapers, got us aired on regional and national TV and on global platforms online…This has been incredible…!!!!!!!

We now have 200 metres of cloth back from the finishers. And we have more than we expected for -another joyous revelation…!!

This means that you can buy cloth via our online store now, only for as long as the limited stock lasts..!

This first chapter has clearly been a roaring success…despites the various glitches, set backs, delays etc…Its happenend. We did it..!!!

And what’s next…?

More cloth? Different colours? Different weave designs? Different fibres?? What do you want from your local Bristish textile system…?

We are all ears and excitedly dreaming and scheming the next chapter…Please have your say in the comments below :) xx

BRISTOL CLOTH ON BBC COUNTRYFILE:

WATCH BRISTOL CLOTH ON BBC POINTS WEST HERE.

BRISTOL CLOTH ON SKY NEWS:

RAW V EXTRACTS

Do you love working with natural dyes that you have grown or harvested yourself? Not so familiar with using dye extract powders? Or had more experience with the powders and feeling more drawn to fresh or whole raw plant dyes?

What are the benefits to each and set-backs if any?

I tend to use my range of in-house organic natural dye extracts for productions, as they are so simple and direct to work with for larger scale operations.

I’ve made all of them available to buy via the dye section in my online shop.

It is also possible for me to use locally grown or foraged dye plants and food waste for productions too. I often work with local organic cafes and stores to collect and recycle onion skins, coffee grinds and avocado rinds, for example, for local circular design projects.

The great thing about working with fresh plant dyes is that you get to connect to the plant, develop a relationship and reap the benefits of being in natural spaces for foraging or harvesting. We all know about the countlessly positive impacts of having more time outdoors...Theres also such satisfaction in turning your own land to colour production, and creating local fibreshed systems.. And perhaps you live in the city and see the good in recycling waste food from local cafes or your own kitchen scraps to get additional gifts of colour from your food.

Working with pre-extracted natural dye extract powders means that you get to skip the extraction process of gathering dye plants and processing them in water to receive the colour for dyeing. This can take a day or two or more in some cases so if you are working for clients, having stock of ready made extracts makes this a lot easier to manage, or even for your own practice, it allows for more spontaneity in creating as the colours are right there ready to use, for dyeing, painting or printmaking.

If you are based in the UK you may know and love our local dye colour spectrum of earthy and soft neutral colours from our heritage plants. The extract powders are often from sub-tropical regions in Asia or the Americas where brighter and more lustrous colours reside.

Keeping it local is a beautiful thing and working with and wearing a local camoflage of colours that sit well within our soft and gentle rolling hills and gentle colourscape.

Theres no right or wrong, and you know that if you want to source responsibly grown and processed dyes, we are a reliable resource for you with gots certification and ethical trade standards on all of our dye extracts, and many from local British growers using permaculture soil building techniques to nourish and improve the land.

What are your preferences when you source natural colours? Leave a comment below! :) x

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NATURAL DYE PRODUCTIONS

I’m so happy to be back in Bristol and enjoying so much offering consultation calls, sampling services and natural dye production services, for a super interesting variety of clients from independent designers & start-ups to corporate brands, design houses and art agencies.

There are some really excitingly unusual project briefs this Summer which is keeping things super interesing and I’m getting the opportunity to be quite experiemental for some clients :)

I’m so grateful for all of these opportunities to develop new techniques & recipes, as well as practise some traditional processes.

My mind and soul feel suitably nourished and it just makes me so happy to see so many people from different spheres of creativity being turned on to natural dyeing and ecological textile production systems. This is such an exciting time!

Of course, I can’t speak in much detail about the private work I am doing now, until it is officially launched, so do watch this space..!

If you are interested to have fabric, yarn or garments dyed with natural dyes, do get in touch to discuss your ideas and projects - I’m always happy to take on new projects!

Email me: hello@botanicalinks.com

You can learn more about our requirements for the types of fibres we work with and other basic info here.

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121 TUITION

I’ve been teaching private 121 classes in my studio again, which has been really lovely!

I love having the opportunity to hang out and get to know more natural dye community here in the UK and to share my space. I’ve really appreciated the interesting and beautiful souls who come through these bookings and our time together geeking out on plant dyes and generally inspiring each other!

These sessions can be a focus in on any area you are particularly interested in and want to explore.

My recent class was for a knitter/weaver enthusiast’s birthday present from her husband - she wanted to understand how to dye her own hanks of wool from start to finish using natural dye extracts. So we scoured, mordanted and dyed a few different colours of yarn with some of her Kent Shetland and my Bristol Shetland/Romney yarns and our in-house dye extracts

It was a fun day and we created a lush colour palette - I’m so excited to see what she creates with the dyed yarns!

If you are keen to develop your practise and could do with some guidance - do get in touch to book a session :)

Email me at hello@botanicalinks.com

Thanks for reading my journal post :) xx

I’d love to hear any thoughts you have in the comments below!

With much love, Babs :) xx

Coastal dyes..

Coconut husk - Mango leaf - Dragon's Blood - Palo De Brazil - Zapote Negro Cochineal - Red Earth - Rosemary

A powerful collection of Oaxacan plants and minerals..

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These past two months I’ve been living on the coast of Oaxaca, exploring local natural dye plants, minerals and insects to play with. There’s several I’m already familiar with such as avocado and rosemary, and some I’d never used or even heard of before…Zapote Negro!

The pictures in this post describe a collection of Coconut husk, Mango leaf, Dragon's Blood, Palo De Brazil, Red Earth, Zapote Negro, Cochineal, Roesmary leaf, Avocado skin and a dry berry I forget the name of…?!

Coconut is in SUCH abundance and a brilliant compost dye to make use of - I hear of so many people, restaurants and businesses complaining of not knowing how to dispose of the multitude of big empty nuts after the juice and meat has been eaten…It’s so obvious that they be recycled into dyes..! They do often stain clothing with their colour so surely theres a dye potential..

We used them fresh in this experiment and didnt get much colour, so it seems that this is a plant best fermented or dried first for use..

My research told me that Mango leaves are best used dried, rather than fresh..Its easy to find dry leaves scattered on the ground under the endless huge Mango trees here.. These beautiful leaves are roughly broken up and stewed in boiling water for 30 mins to release the colour…They create the most wonderfully rich sage greens..!

I was really fascinated to try working with Dragon’s Blood as a dye…This is a materials that’s come up for me recently in my work with Intuitive Herbalism - as an incense. I find the history and stories around Dragon’s Blood quite beguiling.. In fact, I’m going to do a specific post about it next after this one..

There are many types of “Dragon’s Blood” and not necessarily of the same plant family, but sharing a name… This particualr kind is Croton Calcareus or “Sangre de Drago”, which grows in dry forests in Oaxaca and Chiapas states.

The colour was pretty incredible in the dye pot - bright rich vivid blood red…! The finished, washed and dry fabrics show a muted dusty tawny pink.. I find this colour from a lot of woody dyes… It’s super common - Which fascinates me, because it is so similar to my natural skin colour.. Actually I see a range of skin colours in the samples below.. some more yellow, pink or brown…Something about this makes me feel a sense of unity with people and trees :)

And with regards to herbalism - Dragon’s Blood has traditionally been used topically to increase the healing of wounds… More on this magikal skin healing plant to come..

Palo De Brazil is so common here its used as fire wood. We know it as Brazilwood in the UK and generally avoid importing it as its not easy to source from sustainable suppliers. It’s a local heritage dye plant here in Oaxaca and commonly used by artisans in Teotitlan de Valle, the Zapotec village outside of the city, famous for its traditional natural dye weaving.

The wood has a distinct orange glow to it which sets it apart from other local dye and incense woods. The dye colours are strong, rich and vibrant, giving deep plummy reds on cotton mordanted with alum and wood ash.

We modified the dye with lime juice to shift it into these more organey and yellow tones.. The pale pink samples below are cotton with no mordant. Its a lovely raspberry pink and should be somewhat fast due to the natural tannins in the wood, without the addition of alum.

The dusty red earth ground is such a beautiful colour in this mangrove lined coast, and I’m led to believe it may get its blush hue from a high iron content - interestimg potential mordant/modifier??

I’ve definitely got a dusty look to a lot of my clothing and bags since hanging out here and I wonder if this pink soil could be intentionally used to dye textiles? Why not?

Initial experiements soaking the soil in water overnight and boiling for several hours over flame produced fairly un-interesting results…I sense that the colour may be more interesting if we rub dry earth into the wet/pre-mordanted textiles…

On the iron-content point - there was no clear indication of a high iron content from the soil when interacting with other dyes..but I’m keen to explore pink soil samples further in this area of thought..

Now this fruit I have been particularly excited to work with. I understand that the Zapotec weavers use it to dye skeins to dark browns and grey and thats not something I ever came across from a fruit before - only nut husks (walnut, oak gall, chestnut..)

How lucky am I that its Zapote Negro season and I get to meet and know this beautiful fruit..

Zapote Negro is a fruit, somewhat similar in texture to an avocado, with several medium size seeds in the middle. It’s generally left to ripen to the point where its skin slips off under the thumb while gently teasing it..for it to be ready to eat. And its often mixed with cacao and honey or banana to make a custard-like pudding (which is deliscious!)

For dyeing, I’ve seen people chop it up when its young and still has white flesh, and boiled for several hours.. And its also used in a fermentation vat , with iron added at the point of dyeing..

We tried this time with ripe fruits and the 101 dye recipe (see my book for more info) I often try with new experiments: 30-60 mins extraction, sit overnight and then 30-60 mins dyeing. I found that the results on cotton were not that exciting so I’m keen to try the fermentation vat on wool next..

Cochineal is an undeniably strong and brilliant dye and gave us reliably good strong pinks on the cotton that had been pre-mordanted with alum, and also cotton not pre-mordanted at all but dyed in an aluminium pot with a seasalt assist.

The rosemary was used semi-dry; whole leafy fronds chopped up and soaked overnight, boiled for 60 mins and dyed for 60 mins. The greens are strong and more impressive than I’ve seen in my english varieties..I actually LOVE this Rosemary green colour!

The picture below show three unmordanted sample on the left, and mordanted with alum and wood ash on the right. With acidic lime juice modifiers on their left and wood ash alkaline modified colours to the right sides.

Left to right: No mordant: lime juice/no modifier/wood ash, alum mordant: lime juice/no modifier/wood ash

Avocado never fails to impress and delight with its surprisingly vivid blush pinks, and again, I have to say these pinks really pop more than those I’m used to seeing back home. I suspect the hard water in Bristol is very different to the softer water here mkaing my hair softer, and also these tropical fruits just pack more of a punch than British varieties.. All that extra sunlight comes through in the colours..!

What do think of my coastal dye experiements so far? Would you like me to share more about any particular dyes in here, or perhaps others I’ve not yet mentioned?

Let me know and I’ll write more on this in my next post!

With much warmth, Babs :) xx

3 year journey

My latest textile production actually started 3 years ago in late 2018, when I bought a year's harvest of Mongolian-grade Cashmere, from the only farm in England producing Cashmere fibre.

The farm in England producing cashmere fibre

At the time I had no idea how long a journey it would be from initiating the project to it's completion in 2020, to now as I focus on retailing the finished scarves.

A large part of the process was spent in developing a beautiful blanket scarf design which would be trans-seasonal, allowing for year-round use through warmer and cooler months. And a design that is both beautiful and functional. Which would be as special in its colour and weave design as in its quality of fibre.

Cashmere really is the most luxurious natural fibre there is, in terms of softness, comfort, breathability and warmth.

I spent many days with Bristol Weaving Mill testing different dip-dyeing options and trialling them out on the loom.

We had to co-ordinate this for when other productions were finishing on the loom, and we could test small strips of my dyed skeins on the ends to see how they turned out. As there simply isnt the time or finances to cover hiring the loom simply for R+D. This took many months before we could know the exact measurments of how many centimentres I could dip the cashmere skeins into my dye vats, to create a suitable patterning effect on the woven cloth. A long process, but very much one of passion!

In 2019 we could understand how best to do the weaving process to create a suitable patterning effect for our design, and I could also know the measurements for dip dyeing accurately.

I wanted to use traditional British heritage dye plant colours for this project, as with the @Bristolcloth project. And I also wanted the quality of the dyes to reflect the exquisiste luxury of the fibre and the quality of craftsmanship in the weaving design.

So, of course, I wanted to work with organic indigo dye, the most luxurious of all natual plant dyes, to create an exquisite blue and organic madder root for a complimentary dusty pink. Both dye plant colours you will find throughout British history and I personally think they are the most beautiful and rich of all our traditional natural dyes.

On a personal level, I also find this combination of colours to be especially beautifil, and one I have always enjoyed creating in my own wardrobe. The mixture of cool blue and warm pink I think also allows for use through each of the British seasons.

In terms of trans-seasonality, I felt that a dynamic pattern which allowed for many different looks, would help to give many uses and styles to one scarf, which I think is important when it comes to making more use out of one piece. It can be worn and styled to give many different looks, by positioning the scarf in ways that you can see more or less of diffenet colours and pattern structures on the cloth.

And by using the dip-dyeing process, we were also able to create 30 completely different scarves from one production using one weave design. As if we had handwoven 30 individual scarves but without the huge extra expense this way of making entails; allowing each person who invests in the scarf to have an original design of their own, unlike any other, without paying a premium price tag, yet still having an ultimately luxurious and special piece.

The dyeing process itself took about 7-10 days from organising quantities of yarn for each dye job, winding cone to skein, scouring, mordanting, preparing dyes, dyeing and with indigo, this means reducing the vat, waiting for it to be in a dyeable state, dipping 3 times, washing, reducing the vat, dipping three more time, and so on for about 20 dips until the colour is suitably dark, then washing, drying and winding back onto the cone for weaving.

So, having now produced three different local soil-to-soil textile productions in England, I have a better understanding of the amount of time and care that is entailed and how each projct is a huge undertaking.

I am completley in love with the English Cashmere Indigo + Madder blanket scarves and it really fills me with joy to see that others also appreciate this level of sustainability and quality of craftsmanship and style, by the very fact that they are being bought and invested in.

If you would like to invest in your own piece to take you through the coming seasons, please visit my online store here.

Do you like trans-seasonal style? Have any of your projects taken much longer to complete? Do you love indigo & cashmere?

Mystery Blue

Muicle (Justicia spicigera)or Mexican Honeysuckle, is a pretty incredible plant. It is native to Oaxaca and gives the most awesome purple-blues which my eyes have ever seen.. Can you see how radiant that blue is? (no filter used!).

Muicle grows abundantly & is found in so many different climates & landscapes, from the coast all the way up to 3000 metres altitude. In dry oak & pine woodlands to humid jungle & cloud forests. It grows everywhere, especially disturbed agricultural land, along hedgerows and in gardens.

Some consider the plant to be an invasive weed…Others understand its magic and pigment content..

Aside from the incredible colour, the remarkable thing about this dye is that it’s main pigment does not appear to be indigo, despite being blue..!?!

It does contain some indigo, but its not the main pigment... And, weirdly, the colour is extracted in water using heat…so unlike other indigofera sources which require a fermentation process..

The leaves are stripped from branches, chopped and macerated and then slowly brought up to simmer and gently boiled for a few hours in a pot of water along with the fibres to be dyed. Sometimes a copper container is used, and in this case, an aluminium pot which is commonly used for cooking frejioles in the mercados.

After a few minutes the water turns pink, then to lilac.. a little while later its purle, after about an hour of boiling its BLUE!!

J. spicigera is considered one of the most ancient plants used among artisan weavers in Santa Maria Atzompa, Oaxaca, Mexico. It is also used in Veracruz for basketry. And the Yucatan, Campeche, & Quintana Roo states in Mexico, for dyeing clothing.
It was used as a dye by the Huasteca, Maya and Nahuatl cultures during colonial and pre-Hispanic times. The dye was also used in colonial paintings.
Macerated leaves produce a blue-purple dye which is used to obtain various hues of blue from pale lilac to dark blue.

The plant is traditionally used medicinally for a range of bodily ailments relating to digestive system, eyes & for serious parasitic diseases which are common in this part of the world. The locals here tell me it is rich in iron and good for womb cramps & anaemia - A simple test with the stalk dipped in cochineal ink, turned black, to tell me it is high in mineral iron.

Academic sources tell me that it is being researched for its potency in healing global systemic diseases including anaemia, diabetes and cancer.
Such a powerful medicinal dye plant.

It is used traditionally as a medicinal infusion drink and therefore also being developed now commercially as a natural food colorant.

The technique of surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), is able to show the tridimensional spectrum of J. spicigera extract, some of which is indigo, however, the main pigment is still undetermined.
The SERS observation indicates a clear difference between indigo & J. spicigera extracts, the Raman spectrum of indigo occurs in the regions of 545 cm-1 [δ (C=C-CO-C)] and 1574 cm-1 [ν (CC ), ν (C=C), ν (C=O)], - signals that are not present in the Raman spectrum of J. spicigera extracts. (Itzamna Baqueiro-Pena and Jose A. Guerrero-Beltran).

Could this be an unknown colour?! Its certainly not a natural colour my eyes have seen before. Do you see how it glows in the photos?

What do you love about this dye plant? Leave your comments below!

Much love, Babs :) xx

Mexico

Oaxaca

Pigment Hunting

I’ve been travelling the World since my early 20’s to experience other landscapes and cultures. I’ve been fortunate to learn from master natural dyers across several continents, including natural dye block printers in Rajasthan, India, silk yarn dyers and weavers in Laos, large scale cotton dyers in Indonesia and Quetchen dyers using wool yarn in Peru for knitting and weaving.

As many aspects of life and work are on hold somewhat, I’ve chosen to spend some time living in Oaxaca, immersed in vibrant colour and new sensory experiences. I hope to meet some new plants and learn about their gifts and the traditional ways of working with them.

(Rest assured, my online shop is functioning as usual and you can still get all the organic natural dye materials, books and cloth you desire :”) xx Plus dye services in the UK will resume in Spring….I’m hoping I’ll also be able to offer some workshops face-to-face too :) xx)

I’ve always been curious & excited by the vibrant natural dye colours which come from Oaxaca State in Mexico, where ancient dyeing practises are now being kept alive by artisans in various villages.

Oaxaca is a centre of incredible food, artisan craft, mezcal, natural dyes and also a pretty sweet place to hang out. I’ve been here for a few weeks now, initially diving into a world of new experiences - tastes, fragrances, sounds, sights.. I’ve eaten incredible tlyudas and tacos with Oaxacan cheese, cactus and grasshoppers (not my favourite) in. Visited a heap of hipster cafes, anarchist lino print artist studios, mercados selling sacks of spices, incense and tropical fruits. I’m admiring the black clay pottery crafted into vessels with animal heads and vibrant natural dye hand loomed weavings.

Over the coming weeks I’ll share some of my journey and experiences with you, my plant meetings, learnings and other musings..

I hope this will bring some colour and inspiration to fuel your creative practise and perhaps also inspire deeper connections with your plant allies.

Big love, Babs :) xx

Andalucia

Its about time I get this Journal page going again. It been dormant for a year now since the World turned upside down..

I left the UK last Autumn to spend time with family in Andalucia, staying in a cabin in the mountains away from everything, except the pines, oaks, wild pigs and vultures.

We were out hiking every day in these stunning mountain valleys, with epic vistas at every step. The oaks here are cork oaks and harvested for their bark which is quickly becoming a popular sustainable fibre source. It didn’t take long to realise that these tress are littered with oak galls and abundantly available on my friend’s land where we were staying.

I’ve gathered a huge stash which I’m drying out for later use. The plan is to grind them to a powder and mix it with iron water to create an ink which I’ll use for drawing and painting.

One other thing that really caught my imagination here, is the local tallest mountain, the Sierra Bermeja. A local walking guide book tells me that the mountain gets in name for its beautiful pink hue. Apparently the reason for its pink colour, is its high iron content..Which leads me to wonder, if I were to grind some of the rock into my oak gall powder, would it make a sufficient fixative for an indellible ink…Or, if I soak the rocks, would there be enough mineral iron in the water for ink making? Soooo curious…..

I’ll let you how my experiments go…

If you’d like to try making indellible oak gall ink yourself, you can find oak gall powder on my online shop and the full ink-making recipe in my book, available here.

2nd Edition

NEW YEAR, NEW BRISTOL CLOTH!!

Bristol Cloth 2nd Edition is now available
in new MUSTARD YELLOW plant dye colour!!

"Old Fustic" dyed yarn sits with the natural un-dyed fleece colours in white and dark brown.

Bristol Cloth is a regeneratively farmed, soft and strong lambs wool from Fernhill Farm, processed without any harmful synthetic chemicals, using biological soaps only for washing & finishing. Dyed with organic plant dyes by Botanical Inks and woven by the Bristol Weaving Mill. The majority of the production is set within a 15 mile radius of Bristol, reducing carbon footprint of transport and investing in local heritage artisan craft. The entire process is set within the UK, championing British wool and sustaining what this country has always offered.

You can support this work by ordering Bristol Cloth products from our store. Every penny is invested in growing this business and creating new possibilities for our British textile industry and non-toxic, bioregional cloth production on our shores.

With thanks, Babs :) xx

countryfile

Sky News

BBC News!

Bristol Cloth Crowdfunder has been incredible! We raised £7,000 in the first 5 days of the campaign, and received pledges from a global following, with backers including the likes of Orsola De Castro (Founder of Fashion Revolution), eco-chef Tom Hunt, Kathy Hattori (Founder of Botanical Colours), actress Charity Wakefield, singer Nessi Gomes, and so many of our beloved local community. The BBC featured our story in a wonderful 3 minute piece on Points West news, as did several local press including two pieces in Bristol 24/7, Bristol Post and Bristol TV. Prior to launching the campaign we were honoured to see Bristol Cloth written about in detail in the beautiful Selvedge Magazine and ever so inspiring No Serial Number Magazine.

See all full articles on Bristol Cloth Press Page.

Currently we have raised a whopping £9500 and hope that our target of £15000 can be reached by the end of the campaign on Christmas Day.

Please pledge whatever you can afford via the crowdfunder here.

We have rewards from £5-£1400 all listed on our crowdfunder for you to choose from. Alternatively you are also welcome to donate any amount you wish to. We also welcome enquiries for wholesale orders from designers and businesses.

BRISTOL CLOTH

crowdfunder

BRISTOL CLOTH

The Bristol Cloth project showcases British heritage, preserving what this land has always offered and what British communities have done for centuries. We are set to prove that it is still commercially viable to make cloth on our shores, sustaining British tradition, culture, community, land and the economy.

Bristol Cloth is made with holistically farmed and biologically washed wool from Fernhill Farm. Naturally dyed with organic British plant dyes by Botanical Inks. And woven at the Bristol Weaving Mill, the first industrial loom to open in Bristol in 90 years.

By supporting this campaign, you can help re-create a local, resilient textile economy in the UK, offering an alternative to the unsustainable global textile production systems which have threatened traditional British cloths almost to extinction and critically damaged the health of our biosphere; Support regenerative agriculture which captures carbon from the air and locks it back into the soil whilst also replenishing soil health; Help recreate our ability to dye textiles using non-toxic plant dyes; promote biological textiles which are safe to use and put back into the earth at the end of their useful life cycle and bring artisan textile production back into our local economy.

North America

BOOK TOUR!

I've just landed today in Seattle to mark the Botanical Inks Plant-To-Print Dyes, Techniques and Projects North America/Canada book publication day.

The book is now available here in local stores and online!

To celebrate I've come to spend a few weeks adventuring into the wilds of Washington, Oregon and California, to explore the landscape, get creative and meet some of the natural dye and Fibershed communities, before heading back to the UK via New York.

I'm so excited to be here!!

I'l be starting off the adventure at Botanical Colours natural dye studio in Seattle with Kathy Hattori, offering a promotional workshop and book signings, before disappearing into Oregon to hunt for natural hot springs and giant redwoods. See the full list of events below.

- 23rd August, 10-4pm: Botanical Colours, Seattle, WA. Block Printing With Natural Dyes

- 9th September, 10-1pm: UC Berkeley Botanical Gardens, Berkeley, CA. Wild Ink Making

- 15th September, 10-4pm: West County Fiber Arts, Sebastapool, Sonoma, CA. Bundle Dyeing

- 30th September, 1-4pm: Cattywampus, Ojai, CA. Bundle Dyeing

- 6th October, 3-6pm: Soho House New York. Bundle Dyeing - Members Only

Do get in touch if you would like to connect while I'm here!

Big love, Babs xx

my Book!

I'm so excited to finally be able to show you the Botanical Inks book I've been working on with Quadrille Publishing. It's been a real labour of love; pouring over pages of writing, designing props and making sure it all fits together and flows well. I hope you like it..!

Warmly, Babs :) xx

Botanical Inks: Plant-To-Print Dyes, Techniques and Projects  Paperback - May 31st 2018

Learn how to transform foraged wild plants, plants, garden produce and recycled food into dyes and inks with Botanical Inks. The book shows you how to extract environmentally sustainable colour from the landscape and use it to create natural dyes for textiles, clothing, paper and other materials.

Botanical Inks covers dyeing and surface application techniques, including bundle dyeing, Shibori tie-dyeing, hapazome, indigo sugar vat dyeing, wood-block printing, screen printing and more. And it also shows you how to turn your new inks, dyes and technique knowledge into wonderful projects, from a simple bundle-dyed scarf to a block-printed tote bag.

The process of turning plants into print can help you reconnect with nature, find a creative outlet and develop a mindful sense of presence. It also promotes an awareness of sustainable practices and how to reduce our impact on the planet.

Paperback: £16.99