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.

In Search of Lost Colour: UNESCO short

This is just a short video produced by UNESCO, but interesting never the less.  It shows a range of dyes from across the globe.

Naturally Dyed Rug by Janet Walker

One of Jane Deane's spinning and weaving students has handspun and dyed her yarn for a beautiful rug.

Janet used indigo, purple lac, red lac, madder and a yellow (that Jane couldn't remember!) all from the Pure Tinctoria range.

Take a look at the image on the right to see her fabulous result.

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!

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

Clay Cross Lace and Textile Celebration Day

Hi all

on Saturday I was invited to the above event in Derbyshire. In the morning I did a natural dye extracts demonstration and produced the lovely hanks and tops you can see on the right.
The hanks were 95% Blue Face Leicester with a 5% nylon binder and the tops were Shetland.
From the right:
Hank 1 - an immersion bath of Lodhra Bark (Amber-L).
Hank 2 - I painted this one with Annatto (Amazon) and Red Lac (Rhine-M).
Tops 1 - an immersion bath of a mix of Annatto and Red Lac.
Hank 3 - painted with Madder (Indus), Acacia Gum (Caspian) and Kamala (Basant).
Tops 2 - I painted this one with Madder (Indus), AcaciaGum (Caspian) and Myrobalan (Kango).
Tops 3 - this lovely baby pink was an immersion bath of 2% Red Lac (Rhine-M).
Tops 4 - a lovely soft lemon yellow from a 2% immersion bath of Marigold (Ambrosia).
Tops 5 - this is a baby alpaca and bleached tussah silk top painted with Madder (Indus) and Myrobalan (Kango) .
Hank 4 - painted with Madder (Indus), Myrobalan (Kango) and Rhubarb Root (Desert).
Tops 6 - painted with Annatto and Red Lac.

In the afternoon I tutored a Design for the Terrified Master Class. Altogether a very enjoyable day!

Gift Idea No 11! or my brains getting sore!

Oh, dear, my plan to blog every day with a new gift idea is sadly falling by the wayside. It's not that I can't think of ideas for all your "fibrey friends", it's just that I can't think of any more really exciting ideas.

Well that's not quite true. I've come up with some cracking ideas, but they will take time to put together, and times what I don't have!

We'd love to provide some naturally dyed warps for those weavers who don't like making them themselves, either because they don't have the time or the inclination, but want something that little bit different. I'd love the hear from you, as to whether this is something you'd like to see in the UK. There are a number of companies in the US who sell pre-dyed and made up warps, but we haven't been able to find any here, so I'm commissioning Jane Deane to dyes some for me for the New Year, but that's a month or more away.

In the mean time, those of you who do like dyeing why not treat yourself to the Rivers Collection, which includes 10g Amazon (Annatto), 25g Ganges (Dhak), 25g Indus (Madder), 25g Nile (Natural Indigo), 25g Rhine-M (Red Lac) and 25g Rhine-S (Purple Lac) and all instructions.

This collection is now only £20.50 and represents good value for money for such a lovely collection of colours.

Gift Idea No. 7!

Well I suppose I should be running short of ideas now, but looking at the lovely kits we've got on our Pure Tinctoria website, I'm quite excited about them!

For just £11.20 we have a Mini Starter Kit which contains 25g Indus (Madder), 25g Kango (Myrobalan), 25g Nile (Natural Indigo) and 25g Pacific(Pomegranate) and all instructions.

This is a really nice gift for someone starting out with natural dyeing.

A fabulous scarf

Hi all

Jane Deane is an adult tutor and one of the subjects she teaches is natural dyeing. She has been using the dyes at her evening class in Devon.

This fabulous silk scarf was dyed by one of Jane's student (adult learners!), Sue Golding-Cooke and was photographed for us by Welmoed Perrin.

The reddy/purple is a mix of madder and purple lac and the green is cutch waste.

I'm sure you'll agree that it is truly gorgeous!