Simply written text, accompanied by detailed line illustrations of plants, explains how to select and mix natural colors of wool and prepare "recipes" for producing specific colors of dye from desert plants, among them single-flowered actinea for yellow, alder bark for a soft brown, the Rocky Mountain bee plant for a pale greenish yellow, more.

This updated 2nd edition features a revised chapter. True Colors is about artists who create color from natural materials and about the historical importance and environmental sustainability of this practice. Deep conversations with 26 artisans from every part of the globe reveal their wisdom, traditions, and know-how—and suggest that we ignore what they know at our peril. Traditional approaches to making color offer sustainable options to a fashion system badly in need of them and memorable cultural narratives to a world hungry for beauty and spirituality. True Colors provides an immersive visual experience and an inspiring travelogue of personal stories and practical information from artists who are leaving their mark on the world.

First in-depth study of the technical aspects of Navaho weaving, plus history of the loom and its prototypes in the prehistoric Southwest, analysis and description of weaves, dyes, and more. Over 230 illustrations.

Nanise', A Navajo Herbal, co-authored by Barbara Bayless Lacy and Vernon O. Mayes, details 100 plants that are found on the Navajo Reservation, providing the reader with the Navajo name for each plant as well as ways the Navajos used them in everyday life, whether for ceremonial, medicinal or household purposes - complete with illustrations. The 100 plants are some of the most common reservation flora of over 1,500 species of wild, vascular plants, including ferns, horsetails, conifers and flowering species and were selected by the Navajo Health Authority, Ethnobotany Project staff, and approved by the Navajo Medicine Men's Association.

"'Harvesting Color' presents the entire process of infusing your life with color--finding the right plants, harvesting them at the best time, transforming the crop into beautiful dye, and, finally, marring pigment to fiber. In this beautiful book, Rebecca Burgess showcases thre dozen common plants that yield striking hues. Citing fascinating botanical lore, she demystifies the process of recognizing each plant in the wild. For those you can grow yourself, she details when to sow the seed and how to nuture the plant. For all the plants, you'll learn the optimal time to harvest, as well as how to extract the best dyes" --Cover flap.

Tells of the Ohio-born trader C.N. Cotton, who went to Arizona and New Mexico to trade with the Indians in the late 19th century, eventually settling in Gallup, New Mexico, where his trading post played a leading role in promoting the sale of Navajo blankets. Includes facsimilies of three early catalogs of Navajo blankets and rugs.