What a perfect way to spend a sunny June afternoon - ‘dyeing’ with friends...!!!
Came home with stained hands & clothes, smelling of bonfires
BUT with some wonderful coloured fleece ready for felting…
the dyes using traditional methods and recipes.
Some plants came from the garden - red dahlia heads, parsley, onion skins -
as well as some more exotic plants such as madder, cutch, purple heart & logwood.
The wool was soaked first in water & urine (YES a traditional ingredient!)
then added to the dye and stirred gently…
Slowly the colours begin to develop…
And as the day passed the dyed wools were hung up to dry.
I’ve always been fascinated by the alchemy of natural dyeing,
especially when mordants are added to the mix.
These are powdered metals such as tin & copper that help fix the colour
but also dramatically effect the results!
Natural dyes are always unpredictable & surprising
and when worked together their soft muted colours always blend beautifully.
Some of my dye samples go back to the 1980’s
when I kept note books, photographs and records of all my experiments
and even grew some dye plants in my garden.
I've lost count of the number of jumpers I've knitted using as many dyed wools
as possible as the colours are so complimentary
I’ve always dyed unbleached spun wool, bought on cones from
Jamiesons in the Shetlands, so all my dyed wools are the same and
can be knitted up together.
This was the first time I’d dyed Merino tops and I’m pleased with the results.
I did sew the lengths of tops into net bags just to prevent too much agitation.
I didn’t want the wool to start felting in the dye pots with all the stirring!
Now I’ve got some wonderfully muted colours that are
quite unique and ready for felting.
It was one of those idyllic summer days!
Lots of tea and cake, cheese scones & elderflower cordial...
Lovely company and really good fun!
PS. Don't forget you can click on all the photos to enlarge them...
PS. Don't forget you can click on all the photos to enlarge them...