about colour & dye lots

When you are looking at the colours both on our site and of our finished products there are many factors that can affect the way these colours appear.

all monitors display colour differently

Monitors not only display a limited range of colour (far less than the human eye can perceive), they are also designed, illuminated and calibrated differently. A backlit monitor will often make colours appear brighter than they do in person. Many phones are sold with their screens preset to display a more saturated version of colours. For these reasons, it’s not possible for us to make our colours display accurately on all screens. Colours on-screen and in-person will appear different.

hand dyeing is an art, not an exact science

Many things affect the dyeing process including the size and number of pieces in each batch, the variable nature of cotton, the water temperature and the minerals present in the water. Some of these factors are largely beyond our control and they all affect the outcome. Simply put, variance should be embraced as nature’s role in how the dyes react with the natural fibres of the cotton. Please don’t get upset with us if you can’t find a perfect match, or if your favourite colour looks a bit different the next time you order. Attempting to control this would be a lot like trying to control the weather.

dye lots vary because variance is the nature of handmade products

For a better idea of what a colour will look like in your space, please order a swatch before ordering larger pieces. While a swatch is a good overall indicator of colour, keep in mind the piece you receive will be very similar but not exactly the same. If you hold on to swatches too long before ordering, the dye lots we are currently producing can be different. Even multiple pieces of the same colour, dyed on the same day can be slightly different from each other. If you order multiple pieces in the same colour, you should expect to see some variation in the shade and tone of the colour across the items. Also, sometimes you’ll see small specks or smudges of another colour on your sheets and this comes down to the fact that a real human being made them by hand – try as we might, these can’t be completely avoided.

we can’t colour-match, lighten/darken recipes, or control marble dye patterns

Hand dying is not at all like mixing paint. The colours of the powdered dye as well as that of dye mixed with water don’t always correspond to what the finished colour will be. We can’t simply adjust our recipes, to lighten, darken or otherwise influence how the dye comes out. On the contrary, it can take many, many trial batches just to get a single colour recipe to work, and then it might just stop working somewhere down the road. Some recipes are really reliable and produce similar results time after time, some others are really variable despite our best efforts. We aren’t being stubborn, we just really can’t control the outcome that much.

lighting, shadows and nearby colours affect your colour perception

We often hear the question: “The colours I chose looked much different once I got them home, why?” This is because surrounding and adjacent colours can affect colour perception.

Example 1: The orange shapes in the image are the same colour. The placement of the orange (directly against the green without the white in between) makes the orange on the right appear darker. Placement, the size of the colour area and the nearby colours can all have a big effect how our eyes perceive colour.

Example 2: The two orange shapes inside each square below are the same colour. The one on the right looks more reddish-orange. Colours can appear lighter, darker or more brilliant when placed against other colours.

Example 3: Believe it or not, squares A and B below are exactly the same colour. The shadows, the quality of the light, and the surrounding shades all affect how the eye perceives the colour of squares A and B in relation to each other.

Originals by Edward H. Adelson – Files created by Adrian Pingstone, based on the originals created by Edward H. Adelson, Copyrighted free use, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=45737683

so bearing all of this in mind...

That’s why things don’t always look the way you were expecting, and we get that. Your lighting, wall colour, furniture colour and other fabrics can all affect how colours look in your space. This is why our regularly stocked bedding is exchangeable as long as it is unwashed and unused, within about 2 weeks of purchase. Please note that any custom items (i.e. reversible duvet covers or custom sizing) as well as stuffed items (duvets and cushions) are a final sale.

sorry, no refunds, store credit only.

Colour can be tricky, sometimes it takes a second (or third!) try to get it right.

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