Projects
PROJECTS
PURDEYS:
“PURDYES” CAMPAIGN
I was asked to produce 600 natural dye kit sachets in three different colours. Pink, purple and green. Using waste food ingrediants from the Purdeys drinks “Replenish”, “Rejeuvenate” and “Refocus”.
This was a fun project to create the dye recipes for, dyeing sample t-shirts for the video pieces of the campaign and even demonstarating the process on camera - you can see clips of my hair and indigo dyed jumpsuit in there!
The team behind this project provided the kits to a selection of fashion diy/upcycling influencers to use theri creativity to upcycle second hand clothing with the natural dyes inspired by their drinks.
We sourced compostable recycled brown paper and bioplastic sachets to package the 600 pieces in.
Check out the Purdeys instagram for some of the fun creators videos from this project!
We dyed 10 metres of cloth for Anna Valentine Couture Atelier Marylebone, London.
Hand dyed using an organic indigo sugar-vat, for a capsule collection of bespoke pieces.
“Lily wanted two of her own dresses to be up cycled with natural dyes, to bring them back to life and keep them in a useful life cycle for longer. She loved the yellow and red shibori designs from our other projects and chose to have a similar style on her silk ad cotton dresses.
We think they both turned out beautifully and of course we are very happy to know that she loves them” :)
JO MALONE
“HONEYSUCKLE & DAVANA”
PERFUME LAUNCH
Bundle dyeing organic UK-grown peace silks for launch event & Influencer gift packs.
Nicholas Kirkwood
The Peace Silk Botanical Beya dyed with natural dyes
“A lovely project to work on, dyeing our in-house organic UK-grown peace silk in its heaviest weight, suitable for shoes. We dyed three different colours, using a shibori tie-dye technique. With our in house dyes Marigold, Lac, and Madder root”.
The Good Life Society
“Some Good Ideas”
“A GOOD JACKET”
“This Jacket is perfect. It is as good as a jacket gets”
It was made entirely in Great Britain using components entirely made in Britain
(with the tiny exception of the thread; we simply couldn’t find a British thread).
Here are some good things about it.
It is made in London by a long-established workwear specialist.
It is made of thick organic cotton and hemp which is woven in Britain.
It is entirely naturally dyed in Britain with organic natural dyes.
The Corozo buttons are made in Britain on traditional machines. Corozo is a natural, sustainable material made from the nut of the Tagua tree.
The labels were made and printed in Britain.
It was designed by two professional clothing designers (Sophie Miller and Sarah Hellen)
This jacket isn’t much more expensive than many jackets that look similar, but we honestly think that it’s a lot better. It will last for ever and its provenance and integrity are near perfect.
We’re really trying to be transparent here, because our mission is not just to sell great things but to help people to understand that it’s possible to make good things in Great Britain and what, precisely, this costs. We aim to pay everyone fairly, to make things as sustainably as possible and to support British manufacturers.
CARDIFF PRIDE : PRIVATE Client
The original “Pride Flag” created by artist Gilbert Baker
for the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade in June 1978,
was apparently dyed with natural dyes.
It was a thrill to be asked to re-create a natural dye flag for our client to wear as a cape to Cardiff Pride in 2017.
To create the colours that were used for the original flag, we used (left to right) cochineal, madder, madder and weld, weld, chlorophylln, indigo, indigo and logwood.
We used organic locally grown Mulberry peace silk (available to buy from our shop) and silk thread to stitch the individual pieces together to create the flag/cape. All dyed and sewn in our Bristol studio.
This is one of our most beloved projects!
Minor Figures
Minor Figures asked us to produce a set of natural dye kits for their Oat Matcha Latte product launch campaign.
We made a special recipe of ceremonial grade matcha powder mixed with other natural dyes to give a beautiful green colour for scrunch dying organic cotton sweatshirts and produced a large batch of green the dye kits with all the materials and instructions for diy home natural dyeing fun.
Everyone’s Invited
by Meadow Walker
A collection of indigo dyed blue & lac dyed pink t-shirts.
For this collection we used unbleached organic cotton T-shirts, embroidered with an unbleached organic cotton thread to create the logo, piece dyed with organic lac and indigo dyes fro our in-house range.
A satisfying project which we managed the embroidery for and then dyed.
Its fun to see a nice number of pieces drying on the rack together!
Botanical Inks x Zoe Lyne
A limited edition collection of naturally dyed,
regeneratively farmed, local lambswool, hand knitted fisherman hats.
This special regeneratively farmed lambswool is sourced from Fernhill Farm in the Mendip Hills, just 15 mins from Bristol city centre. This is teh same yarn we use to produce the Bristol Cloth project, and this project was inspired by using up excess yarn from th elatest production, and recycling exhaust dye vats also from the production, to create a line of knitwear hats. We used the same Dyers Mulberyy/Old Fustic dye from the Brstol Cloth 2nd Edition, and added a touch of madder root to give this beautiful warm apricot shade.
Zoë Lyne is a freelance knitwear designer graduated from Winchester School of Art. Her work focuses on knitted fabrics, primarily experimenting with structural textiles that can be used within fashion and performance.
Alongside this, Zoë is also working on her project The Woolgatherers Workshop, sourcing local fibres which are then made in her studio on Dartmoor.
The Woolgatherers Workshop is an investigative project, rooted in a deep connection to process and materials; honouring an ancestral practice. A Commitment to learning about wool production, spinning, weaving and knitting. With a holistic approach to design we work with local farmers and spinners with the aim to utilise the resources Dartmoor gives us. The heart of our handcrafted knitwear design practice is centred around the human body and its connection to its environment, our garments act as a bridge between ourselves and the landscape around us, this connection goes much further than the physical relationship but into the realm of ancestry and tradition and what connects us to our landscape through materials and rituals of making.
One
“Rich, earthy, fertile notes of nutrient dense humus, felt within the cells of my body and through that scent filling the room.”
Babs, Botanical Inks
Two
“There's something in that grounded presence of the ancient oaks and chestnut trees. Such big and strong, wisened elders”.
Babs, Botanical Inks
Four
"I believe these fallen leaf shirts can be magical amulets to their wearer, if they so wish them to be”.
Babs, Botanical Inks
Seven
Three
Five
"Spontaneous free-hand line strokes that were led by the hand, in no particular order. The inks wanted to be worked with quickly but the whole meditative process took many hours over a number of weeks.”
Milly, Ob
Six
Helene and Emily from a collaborative of architects called Londonon who were exhibiting at the 2019 Oslo Architecture Triennale on the theme of Degrowth. Their exhibit documents how they as architects approach the question of how to feed a growing population. Using the metaphor of French onion soup throughout the ages to tell this story.
The intention was to make a beautiful tablecloth printed with drawings that make the narrative, and they were keen to use natural inks.
It was a pleasure to help source biodegradable natural fibre fabrics which are locally sourced and manufacterd and natural dyes recycled from local organic food suppliers. We sourced a hemp/linen blend fabric which is grown in the EU and woven in England. In it’s natural unbleached and undyed state, which has a soft greige base colour to work on.
The project is a great example of working with local fibres and utilising recycled waste foods, to demonstrate local soil-to-soil systems.
Helene and Emily both work at the Morris+ Company Architecture firm in London, and travelled to Bristol to join me for two days at my Botanical Inks studio space in the Old Market Quarter.
They were keen to learn the art of natural dyeing and paint making, using onion dye and inks. And excited to work with an entirely locally sourced fabric and dye material process.
I partnered with my local organic store Matter Wholefoods, to source a large bulk of organic onion skins to use for extracting natural dye colourant. Matter used the opportunity to create a collection of pickled onion jars from their sister fermented foods company where they make artisan small scale batch fermented foods to sell in their store in Easton.
I used a collection of locally foraged oak galls to create a mordant bath, which was used to pre-mordant the cloth before dyeing, to help the fabric take the dye and give the most long lasting fastness to light, washing and wear.
The onion skins were brewed in a huge stainless steel vat over flames to extract the beautiful rusty orange pigment. This process takes a few hours and its good to let it sit overnight and stew.
The onion skins were then removed and the coloured liquid was ready to have the fabric worked into it. It was important for this project to have an even saturation of colour without variagated markings, so the dyeing process was quite involved and required a lot of movement to create a perfectly even colour across the 3 metres of cloth.
We made a natural fabric paint using the same locally foraged oak galls, this time reduced down over heat and mixed with an iron modifier to create a heritage English ink recipe dating back thousands of years. as would have been used with a quill or dipping pen. Mixed with a plant starch binder to create a paint consistency suitable for fabric painting.
Helene and Emily had created line drawing designs to paint oto the table cloth which were inspired by a Bayeaux Tapestry aesthetic and telling the story of their research project with onion skins for the OAT exhibition. We hand painted their designs freehand guided by paper stencils using paint brushes and the oak gall ink. A process that could not be rushed and took some hours to fulfill.
The table cloth was displayed on a huge hand made wooden table at the Londonon exhibition at Olso Triennale 2019. Pictured below.
Adelfa Espadrilles
Hand made by traditional artisans in Spain, using our organic hand dyed shibori and bundle dye uk-grown peace silks
Such a fun project! We loved seeing our beautiful organic UK-grown peace silks transformed into stunning footwear from Adelfa. A female powered brand with sustainability at its heart, sourcing all natural fibres and traditional artisan craftmanship in Spain. Championing the espadrille shoe craft from this land. We love these shoes..!
The blue shoe (left is shibori tie dyed with organic indigo, the pink (middle) is bundle dyed cohineal and rose petals, wile the third (right) is a flower bundle dye modified with iron to give a mercurial aesthetic. Which on is your favourite..?! :) x
