Summer Competition

It's been very busy here, and feel very guilty that we haven't announced the winner of the Summer Competition!
So without much ado, we can announce that Sarah Johnson has won the Mini Starter Kit for her lovely had design, which Alison is busy knitting up now and will be featured in a later blog.
Mary Wilson won the Spring 4 Collection for her mitten pattern. Sadly we can't use both pattern as we don't have enough yarn.

Well done Sarah and Mary.

1 more week to enter our Summer Competition

We launched this competition way back at the beginning of July and today is 1 September! Were has the Summer gone, it really feels like Autumn now.

We are giving you another week, until the children go back to school, to put your thinking caps on and then we will close it and select the winners. There have been some lovely ideas, so it's going to be a hard task to pick the one to use and the runner-up.

By the way, there is no need to purchase anything from the Pure Tinctoria website, just click on the Contact Us button in the top right hand corner and fill in the contact form! You will be automatically entered into the competition and if picked will win one of two prizes and have your idea produced in the yarn and featured on the Pure Tinctoria website and on this blog. So come on what are you waiting for..................

Dyeing with Plants

I've been notified by the Administrator at the University of Bristol Botanic Gardens that they have 2 new courses for the autumn:

• Natural dyes from plants - exploring the past and present uses. Five meetings weekly from 7 September 2009, 7pm to 9pm in the Linnaeus Study Room, University of Bristol Botanic Gardens.

• Indigo and Woad. A one day course, 10am to 5pm on 19 September, 2009 in the Linnaeus Study Room, University of Bristol Botanic Gardens.
  

The tutor for both these courses is Dr David J Hill, BSc, DPhil, MIEEM.

If you are interested in either or both of these courses please contact the following address or telephone number:
Adminsitrator
University of Bristol Botanic Garden
Hollybush Lane
Stoke Bishop
BS9 1JB

Telephone: 0117 331 4906
Fax: 0117 331 4909

Full details of the courses can be found at the following link:
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/Depts/BotanicGardens/about/education.htm

Summer Competition Update

We are starting to get some lovely ideas from you all for our Summer Competition, ranging from a Multi-Directional Scarf to knitted mittens! Please keep the ideas coming in.

For those of you who missed our post about the competition, here are the rules:

Alison has spun some Shetland tops, she dyed earlier this year, and can't decide what to make from the yarn she has produced and is asking for your help. In return you can win one of two packs of dyes - a Mini Starter Kit or a Spring 4 Collection.

Alison dyed one 50g lot of Shetland tops with Myrobalan, Madder and Acacia Gum and the other 50gs was dyed with Red Lac and Annatto. She pulled staple lengths of fibre from each top and spun these in turn. The resulting singles yarn was then Navajo plyed (3 ply), to keep the lovely colours separate. There are approximately 8 - 9 wraps to an inch (Double Double/Chunky Yarn!) and approx. 250 yards in all.

We are looking for a suitable knitting or crochet pattern or whatever you can come up with that stylish and bang on trend!

For your chance to win one of the two dye kits you will need to visit the Pure Tinctoria website and either place an order and leave your idea in the comment section or click on Contact Us at the top right hand side of the website and leave your email address, name and message. The item that is produced from the winning idea will be featured on the Pure Tinctoria website and on this blog. We are looking forward to your ideas.

Good luck, oh, and the closing date is Monday 31 August, so there's just over a month for you to put your thinking caps on!

Sarah Pearson Cooke

I've just had a lovely email from Sarah Pearson Cooke: -

"I have been demonstrating and showing my work at Art in Action for the last four days and just wanted to let you know that I was endorsing your fabulous dyes! I hope you are not overwhelmed too much with orders, although I am sure this is not a bad thing! I have used your extracted natural dyes for some time on my peace silk cloth which I dye using Shibori processes. Your dyes were very well received at the event and are an important aspect in my journey in working to improving my ethical and environmental impact. I do hope you do not mind me passing on your business details to those who were interested."

Not only does Sarah use Peace Silk in her work, but some lovely hemp/silk fabric too, read about this here! Take a look a Sarah's lovely scarves and interior products to see how she uses our dyes. I particularly like her new Darjeeling Collection, such lovely greens and blues! oh, and take peek at her Online Boutique where she has a sale, I'm sure you will be tempted!

Indigo Workshop

Jane Deane is running an Indigo Dye Workshop at the Duchy Centre for Creativity in Princetown, Devon on Saturday 8 August from 10am to 4pm.

Jane's a great teacher and this will be a great day. So if you live in the area or are on holiday and can spare that Saturday you will be in for a treat for just £35 for the day., which is tremendous value. See the Duchy Website for details. Just go to events and scroll down to the Indigo Dye Workshop link and you will be able to send for all the information you need to enroll on the course.

Pure Tinctoria Summer Competition

Hi all

We are running a competition at Pure Tinctoria, this summer. Alison has spun some Shetland tops, she dyed earlier this year, and can't decide what to make from the yarn she has produced and is asking for your help. In return you can win one of two packs of dyes - a Mini Starter Kit or a Spring 4 Kit.

Alison dyed one 50g lot of Shetland tops with Myrobalan, Madder and Acacia Gum and the other 50gs was dyed with Red Lac and Annatto. She pulled staple lengths of fibre from each top and spun these in turn. The resulting singles yarn was then Navajo plyed (3 ply), to keep the lovely colours separate. There are approximately 8 - 9 wraps to an inch (Double Double/Chunky Yarn!) and approx. 250 yards in all.

Alison is looking for a suitable knitting or crochet pattern or whatever you can come up with that stylish and bang on trend!

For your chance to win one of the two dye kits you will need to visit the Pure Tinctoria website and either place an order and leave your idea in the comment section or click on Contact Us at the top right hand side of the website and leave your email address, name and message. The item that is produced from the winning idea will be featured on the Pure Tinctoria website and on this blog. We are looking forward to your ideas.

Good luck