We recently connected with Beth Kalinsky and have shared our conversation below.

Beth, appreciate you joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

Everything I dyed is by hand and is sourced from plant matter. So, patience is something that I need to always come back to. Dyeing with plants tends to be a slow process, it is not about instant gratification or mass production. Some colors can take days to develop but this is the beauty of working with plants.

Sometimes I leave material in the bath too long and ruin my products or the color doesn’t turn out the same as the prevision bath. Being mindful and learning from each project, I found that collecting as much information really helps and gives me a source to reference down the line.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Eliza Dot Design specializes in natural dyed textiles, apparel, home-goods, and accessories. All the colors we make are of the season and made with a slow process. Everything is dyed by hand and is sourced from plant matter from collecting/gathering in Southern Ohio and in our garden. We use flowers, leaves, wood/bark, food waste, and other plant-based extracts for dyeing.

Beth Kalinsky, textile artist and founder of Eliza Dot Design, is based out of Cincinnati, Ohio. Beth graduated with a Fine Art Degree with focus in Graphic Design and Textiles. Her love for nature and continuing learning from plants themselves has taught her much about how to preserve and incorporate our traditions and understanding our connection to them. She creatives one of kind pieces and captures the beauty of each creation with colors, textures, patterns, and natural elements.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

Graphic design for the past 20 years has been my living but in the search for a personal creative outlet to balance the stress of work I found that textiles gave me that release. This love of mine quickly became my passion and focus that I keep developing. And through this time I have experimented with different processes and techniques and have grown to build my business. Especially the last five years I shifted my business to create my products of the season and explore the use of botanical materials. I love what I do because it allows me the freedom to create while at the same time bring joy to others.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

One of my main goals for Eliza Dot Design is to teach others who are excited about textiles and natural dyeing and I would be honored to share my experience and my knowledge. I am so grateful for everyone that has helped me along the way and feel this kind of transformation in my art. This creative journey has been a beautiful experience using textiles as a way to express my pathway through nature, and I see myself continuing to learn new processes, creating art, and collaborating.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.elizadotdesign.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elizadotdesign/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100075849835601

Image Credits
Alex Davis Photography – Self Portrait, Additional Photo’s (4) holding my necklaces (7) Girl not facing Camera with scarf in her hair. Megan Mahon – Additional Photo’s 1-3 (1)Indigo folding, (2)Indigo Shibori Image, (3) Myself cutting Goldenrod (5,6,8) – I took 8th image – I collaborated with a ceramic artist Christie Goodfellow