a labour of love for colder days

wrapped up in flowers

crochet floral capelet made using naturally dyed wool yarns in a rainbow of colours

casual garments dyed with natural indigo

a collection of casual wear dyed with indigo
- handmade and dyed in Budapest
jewellery: Pompomdesign
photo: Peruzzi Photography
model: the beautiful Nora, who is actually a long-time Botanika customer
mua:Gabriella Halasi-Szabó
hair: Boglárka Török

line by line

I recently started to learn handweaving, it's a beautifully meditative, feminine artful process that aligns body and soul through the repetitive process, passing the shuttle hundreds, thousands of times between the warp threads to create cloth. I dyed some indigo yarn for these two shawls

sneak peeks from the collection

I'm busy creating my first line of naturally dyed garments, the first mini collection is themed "Sea & Sand"
it will feature pieces dyed in shades of blue and sand

naturally dyed Easter

some naturally dyed Easter eggs, using turmeric, onion skins, carrot tops, red cabbage and beets

dyetests

days filled with colour in the studio

since the summer

September and October have been the busiest I've seen in a long while.
From natural dyeing workshops and a special order of indigo goodies by the MAK Design Shop in Vienna  during the 2014 Budapest Design Week, to launching our beautiful new studio space with designer friend, Bori of Pompomdesign, I have been dyeing all colours of the rainbow.

urban herbalism

dyeplants also make healthy teas: I am storing the leftovers in little cotton pouches that I've sewn and dyed with the respective plant (yarrow, goldenrod, St John's wort and walnut leaves) for the autumn and winter months

crochet bracelets

little balls of colour

naturally dyed wool balls for some crochet projects that I have in the works

indigo - here we go!

I've been looking forward to dyeing with natural indigo for a long-long time, but I've been putting it off because it is unlike all other dye-plants. It is an ancient an unique source of colour that works through an elaborate process of oxidation, reacting to the air to bring out the beautiful blue shades.
now finally the blues are here, and I'm thrilled with the first results of my dye experiments.

me, not noticing that there was a hole in the gloves I used while dyeing with indigo

cotton gauze scarf, oxidising after removal from the dye vat

oxidation, phase 1.

oxidation, phase 2.

oxidation, phase 3 - the blues are all here!

blues, and more blues!

indigo on 20 different fabric swatches

dye plant walk

we went for a dye plant walk yesterday on the outskirts of Budapest, and identified over 15 beautiful natural dye-sources, including St John's wort and Viper's Bugloss as well as some more common varieties such as walnut, elder and wild cherry.

 

St. John's Wort

Viper's Bugloss

macramé & natural dyes

first experiments

dyed uing onion skins and rose petals

new clutch

a new clutch style in soft pastel shades

sorbet colours

naturally dyed cotton gauze scarves

sneak preview

1 dyepot: an array of beautiful colours

botanical rainbows

silk & cotton dye samples

pastel cotton gauze scarves