Wonderwool Wales 2

During this years show I did a number of demonstrations on dyeing with extracts using the "All-in-One" dyeing method.

The first demo on each day was painting tops and hanks and could also be used on warps.  On Saturday I "painted" two 50g bumps of Blue Face Leicester tops and one 100g hank of Blue Faced Leicester lace weight yarn with Lodhra Bark and Kamala.

On Saturday afternoon I used the "All-in-One" method to dye two centre-pull balls with Red Lac and Dhak.  The first one was a two bath dyed ball and the second was an injection ball.

Left: Two Baths  Right: Injection Dyed

Left: Two Baths  Right: Injection Dyed

How the hanks look!

Sunday mornings tops and hank were painted with Cutch and Cutch Waste.

In the afternoon the centre-pull balls were dyed with Chaste Tree and Madder.

Left: Two baths  Right: Injection dyed

Left: Two baths  Right: Injection dyed

The yarn was purchased from Yarnundyed is beautifully soft and has a lovely sheen.  I'm really thrilled with the results.

Colour Palette of the Month - April!

Last month Jane Deane, Amanda Hannaford, Helen Melvin and I were in The Hague for a workshop.  It was arranged by Dineke de With, who lives in Leidschendam just north of the city.  We were making our way to catch the tram into The Hague when we came across this building which immediately made Jane and I think "Rug"!

I was tempted to rotate the image of the building 90 degrees, laying it on it's side, more reminiscent of a rug, but resisted.  Would you have rotated it?  I'd be interested to know.


So what colours would I use to dye the yarn for my rug?
From Left to Right:
Golden dock modified with iron.
Golden dock modified with copper.
Myrobalan modified with citric acid.
Myrobalan modified with iron.
Cutch.
Golden dock modified with washing soda.
Pomegranate modified with iron.
Red lac modified with iron.
Don't for get that these colours are with my water, they may vary with the water in your area.
What would you use?

Colour Palette of the Month - March!

I was given this image by Wendy Freebourne, a talented knitware designer from Bath.

The colours are so warm and rich that I couldn't resist using them for this months colour palette.

So what dye extracts would you use for this palette?

I'd give the following extracts a try, from the top:
Black - indigo and an iron modifier.
Khaki green - kamala and a light dip in indigo.
Rust - sappenwood.
Beige - cutch.
Buff - himalayan rhubarb with a copper modifier.

Printing with Natural Dyes

I want to bring you a post from an interesting textile blog I found.  It's aimed at textile students throughout the world and there is a lot of industry information on it, but came across an interesting post about printing with natural dyes.  It's not very detailed, but it will give you enough information for you to work out how to do it!  My Textile Notes is the name of the blog and has lots of interesting information.

Any of the Pure Tinctoria natural mordants are full of tannins, oak gall (on the left) and cutch are the usual ones to use and myrobalan for the mordant printing are all available on the Pure Tinctoria website.

Thickeners such as Agar Agar and Gum Tragacanth are natural and easily obtained on the high street.

Let use know if you have had a go at natural printing or if you are planning to!  We'd love to see your results.

Colour Palette of the Month - December!

I love colour and find it really hard to work with neutrals and monochromatic palettes.  It's strange then, that in this monochromatic snowy and frosty landscape I'm beginning to adjust!

Monday morning, this week, was really frosty in the Trent Valley and I couldn't help but take this photograph at 8.30 while out for our morning walk.

When I downloaded the image from my Blackberry I was really taken with the lovely rich browns, creams and apricots,  moving me to use it as my palette for December and as my Seasonal Greetings card.  It puts a new twist on winter colours!  It's certainly not winter white, is it?


Dyeing the lovely rich colours would be a challenge and I think I'd use cutch (Thar) or sappenwood (Garden) with iron water for the browns and cutch for the apricot shade, with oak gall for the cream.  What would you use?

Colour Palette of the Month - November!

Colour Inspirations from Urban Landscapes
At the beginning of October I had a lovely week-end in London.  On the Saturday I wanted to go to the Tate Modern to see the Gaugan Exhibition and decided to walk along part of the Embankment to the Millenium Bridge.
Along the way I came across quite a few juxtapositions of old buildings and new buildings as you can see on the right.  This particular one really caught my eye with the "all glass" building that takes on an indigo colour in the background and the beautiful old building, with it's sand coloured brick and detailing stone work.
How lovely this colour palette would be in natural dyes and weave!  From the top I'd use indigo with an iron modification; indigo on it's own, but dipped several times to build up the deep blue; a very light, quick dip in indigo with a very quick and light modification with iron to get the blue grey; Oak Gall modified with citric acid; cutch.
Mm..... This has really got me thinking!  What about you, what would you use?

mudbatik-natural dye process 10 min.wmv

Here is an interesting video showing how to use mud as a resist when natural dyeing.

Using Pure Tinctoria Dyes in Paper Making

Jane Deane, a very accomplished dyer, has emailed this image to me. It's a collage of an Ichthyosaur, that was included in the design work for a piece of art as a book in Traces at Walford Mill gallery, Wimborne, Dorset, but it has been "re-commissioned" in its own right for an exhibition in September, based on the Jurassic Coast and called Stone, Paper, Scissors.

She used Pure Tinctoria's cutch (Thar) to dye the paper pulp with a varigated effect. Here's how she did it:

For a varigated effect to the paper, just dissolved the dye in water as you would do normally and stirred it into the pulp.

For a more even colour, mix the dye colour in the water for the paper vat, before you add the pulp.

I think it's really beautiful!