Techno-Fossil Color Shifting

Objective

Students will create a range of colors from select dye material through acid and alkaline agents. 

 The chemical expression of plant matter can be altered to create a variety of colors from one source. These stages signify three distinct forms of transformation expressed through the color scale: light, medium and dark. We will use citric acid, soda ash, and iron to express these distinct stages of mineral distribution. 

The course emphasizes process over product, grounding aesthetic outcomes in chemistry, lineage, and material ethics. Students leave with dyed samples, documentation methods, and a working understanding of how pH, temperature, fiber type, and mordants affect color behavior.

Known by many names across regions, languages, contexts and timelines, Bloodwood, Blackwood, Palo de Campeche, Haematoxylum Campechianum, colloquially known as Logwood is a pillar of radiance, depth, and nuance within the natural dye world. The dynamic range of this techno-fossil baptizes waters with cool tones of deep violet, the shortest wavelength of visible light.

Native to the waters of the Campeche, logwood  was utilized by our ancestors to treat diarrhea and bleeding. By the late 1500’s, the Spanish began exporting large cargoes from the Yucatan peninsula as a source of dyes, establishing the relationship between the color purple and royalty within the Western context. The late 1600’s saw the presence of the British who established their stake in the excavation of logwood, cementing Belize as the main source of timber extraction. 

As a descendant of this history, Tajah Ellis has conducted independent field research to source and retrieve logwood from the Jungles of Central America , expanding the definition of intuitive science and reclamation of sourced material histories, bringing it into the future as a techno-fossil with knowledge and memory. Ellis will lead a natural dye session showcasing the range of color and tone that can be achieved from this specific wood and ones similar – Palo de Brazil (Sappanwood), a close cousin and Mahogany, a close friend in the same region. 

About the Facilitator

Tajah Ellis is a born-and-bred Bed-Stuy native with ancestral waters hailing from Belize. Her artisanship as a bio-designer embraces the regenerative mechanisms of intuitive chemistry, organic mapping and biological emergence through the growth, decay and circularity of natural materials. Ellis’ craft unites rituals of antiquity into extended future formation, combining the origins of ecological excavation for dyes and pigments, transforming plant matter into a vibrant range of colors and textures into bio-materials, grown through research and experimentation. Tajah grounds Afro-Indigenous continuity through alternative calculating systems with her research on algae, logwood and crystals by way of her re/de-construction practice, OUTOFSEAM and her research-based, dream-driven journal, ‘noon’. 

whats included

• Silk + cotton (distributed on a first come, first serve basis)

• PH Modifiers (citric acid, soda ash, and iron)

• Dyes 

• Utensils 

• Tags for Notes

disclaimer

We will be working with chemicals that have the potential to cause itching, coughing or irritation. They will be dissolved within water but be mindful of this. Wear a mask if you are weary. Gloves will be provided.