Mindful Colors Membership

 

Exploring Korean Culture Through Color, Plants & Creative Practice

The Mindful Colors Membership is a monthly online community where I share my ongoing research, studio practice, and stories inspired by Korea's rich traditions of color, plants, craftsmanship, and seasonal living.

Natural dyeing is one way to understand Korean culture—but it is only the beginning. Through color, we'll explore history, ecology, traditional craftsmanship, medicinal plants, foodways, folklore, and everyday practices that have shaped Korean life for generations. Along the way, we'll also discover connections with neighboring traditions across East Asia, revealing both shared roots and unique cultural perspectives.

Whether you're an artist, educator, gardener, natural dye enthusiast, or simply curious about Korean culture, I invite you to join me on this journey.

 

Why I Created Mindful Colors

For nearly a decade, I have researched, collaborated with, and learned from artisans, farmers, conservators, historians, and communities who have generously shared their knowledge of natural color traditions. Along the way, I realized that natural dyeing is about much more than creating beautiful colors. It is a doorway into understanding culture, history, ecology, and the relationship between people and nature.

As a Korean-born artist living in the United States, I've felt a growing desire to reconnect with my own cultural heritage and share it in a meaningful and accessible way. Through Mindful Colors, I hope to carry these living traditions forward—not by simply preserving them, but by practicing, experimenting with, and reimagining them for today.

This membership is my invitation to learn alongside me as we explore Korean culture through color, one story at a time.

 

Membership Includes

🌿 Monthly studio letters with reflections from my research and creative practice (PDF-style online zine)

🍃 Seasonal stories about Korean plants, colors, traditions, and well-being

📚 Educational resources on Korean color traditions, natural dyeing, textiles, and cultural heritage

🧪 Studio experiments, historical recipes, and creative explorations

🎥 Behind-the-scenes access to works in progress, research, and studio life

💙 Member discounts on workshops and selected offerings

🌏 Content provided in both English and Korean

Stories We'll Explore Together

Each month we'll explore a different story inspired by Korean color traditions, seasonal plants, and creative practice.

August — Indigo (쪽)

Discover the history of Korea's beloved blue, learn about growing and harvesting indigo, explore an experimental indigo vat made with Korean rice wine, and uncover why indigo has long been treasured beyond textiles.

 

September — Safflower (홍화)

Journey into Korea's vibrant reds and pinks through natural dyeing, medicinal traditions, and the cultural symbolism of color.

 

October — Persimmon (감물)

Celebrate autumn through persimmon dyeing, sustainable textiles, and the wisdom of seasonal living.

Future stories may include:

Hanji • Bojagi • Five Cardinal Colors (오방색) • Korean pigments • Temple culture • Medicinal and dye plants • Folk traditions • Fermentation • Contemporary Korean artists and makers • Studio journals • Field research

 

Your Membership Makes This Work Possible

Mindful Colors is an independent project rooted in research, creativity, and a deep love for Korean cultural traditions.

Your membership helps support ongoing research, documentation, studio experiments, growing dye plants, and the creation of new educational resources. It also helps expand Indigo Shade Map, an evolving platform dedicated to sharing the history and living traditions of natural indigo around the world.

By joining this community, you're not only gaining access to exclusive content—you are helping carry Korean cultural traditions forward through education, artistic practice, and storytelling.

Membership: $12/month

Thank you for helping carry these living traditions forward—one story, one plant, and one color at a time.

Join Mindful Colors Membership

Call For Indigo & Madder Samples

• 

• 

Edith Sandstöm (left) | Indigo samples submitted by Samorn Sanixay

Indigo Shade Map is excited to share an open call from Edith Sandström, who recently began a postdoctoral research project using stable isotope mass spectrometry to study the provenance of heritage dyes. Her work begins with indigo and madder, exploring how this method might reveal not only dye identification but also insights into provenance, trade relations, and cultural exchange.

To build this research, Edith is seeking geographically diverse, well-documented reference materials of indigo and madder. She invites the natural dye community to contribute small samples (~1 g) from any part of the process—plant material, extraction baths, or dyed objects.

Below is Edith’s full message with details on how you can contribute:

Full message from Edith Sandström:

Hello all,

My name is Edith Sandström and in May I began my postdoctoral research project

using stable isotope mass spectrometry to help determine provenance of heritage

objects, starting with indigo and madder (https://data.snf.ch/grants/grant/216127).

We want to explore if this technique let us go beyond dye identification and could

help our understanding of provenance, trade relations and cultural exchange. For

this, we need geographically diverse, well-documented indigo and madder reference

materials.

Therefore, I was wondering (and hoping!) that you in the dye community would be

willing to send around 1 g of any indigo and madder material you have/will collect

(any and all parts of the process, including plant material, extraction bath or dyed

objects) to help with the method development and building of the initial reference

map. It would be great if you could include the location of the garden, if fertilizers

have been used, the likely origin of the soil and potential fertilizers, as well as the

likely origin of any additives (e.g. lime) that have been added to the sample you

send.

I am more than happy to arrange an online meeting to explain my project further or

just explain more in an email to anyone interested. I will cover all shipping costs, and

I also have access to laboratory equipment, so I will be able to run some analyses in

return if wanted. Please contact me with any questions: edith.sandstroem@hefr.ch

Thank you to Rosa for letting me put out this open call and to all that is willing and

able to share their hard-earned material and knowledge. It is deeply appreciated!

All the best,

Edith

1st Inaugural Indigo Apprenticeship Blog Entry #3 by Amanda "Ama" Howard

From Sludge to Shelf: Filtering , Muslin-Filtering, and Dehydrating Indigo Pigment

This Blog has several pieces written by Amanda "Ama" Howard, AFA and Indigo Shade Map Intern & Apprentice

Before you start: how to know the pigment is ready to filter

• Distinct layers: A clear or tea-tinted liquid on top and a darker, inky sludge at the bottom.

• Time settled: Typically a few days  after aeration process.

Step 1 : After the Aeration process Let the pigment settle completely

1. Place your extraction vessel somewhere it won’t be bumped.

2. Cover loosely to keep dust out.

3. Give it enough time to form a crisp boundary between clear liquid and pigment. If the line is cloudy, wait longer.

Tip: Cooler temperatures and stillness improve settling.

Step 2 :  Remove the clear liquid

Goal: Remove as much supernatant as possible without disturbing the pigment.

Rosa Chang Korean Indigo Master displaying properly processed liquid being removed from the container. Image by Amanda "Ama" Howard, AFA

Step 3 : Consolidate the pigment

1. If you have multiple containers, combine the sludge into one vessel.

Upcycled Muslin with Indigo Print after filtration process. Photo by Amanda "Ama" Howard

Step 4 : Set up your muslin filter

1. Stretch 2–3 layers of muslin over a clean bowl/strainer or hoop.

2. Secure with clamps or rubber bands so the cloth won’t sag or collapse.

Apprentice Timothy Prieto Scraping the fabric to assign the filtration process. Photo by: Amanda "Ama" Howard

Step 5 :  Filter the pigment through muslin

1. Pour the pigment sludge slowly into the center of the muslin.

2. Let gravity work until dripping slows.

3. Draw the muslin corners together to make a bag and gently twist/squeeze to press out more water.

4. If the cloth clogs, pause, scrape the surface with a spatula to expose clean weave, or transfer to fresh cloth.

Result: You’ll have a dense indigo paste inside the muslin and relatively clear filtrate in the bowl.

Step 6 :  Prepare dehydrator trays

1. Line trays with silicone dehydrator sheets or parchment so the paste won’t bond to the mesh.

l

Step 7 :  Spread the paste

1. Transfer paste from the muslin to the lined trays.

2. Use a spatula to spread it into thin, even sheets

3. Label the tray (batch/date/process notes).

Step 8 :  Dehydrate low and slow

1. Turn on the dehydrator

• Cooler settings preserve color and reduce “baked” binder smells if any organics remain.

2. Dry 6–12 hours, checking every couple of hours. Time varies with thickness and humidity.

3. Dryness test: The sheet should be crisp and snap cleanly; no cool or tacky spots.

No dehydrator? Air-dry on lined trays in a dust-free space 1–3 days. Avoid direct sun and drafts that might blow pigment away.

Indigo Master Rosa Chang and Apprentice- Intern Amanda "Ama" Howard participating in the filtration process. Instax by Timothy Prieto

Step 10 :  Break, grind, and store

1. Lift the sheet; it should peel from the liner.

2. Break into flakes. If desired, use a mortar/pestle to make a fine powder (wear a dust mask).

3. Store in airtight glass jars or mylar bags. Add a food-safe desiccant if humidity is high.

4. Label with: plant/species, date, method (fresh-leaf/lime %, washes), and any notes.