Natural dyes
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Turkey Red (Part 1)
The term Turkey Red can be quite confusing – it is often used to describe a colour (particularly in modern parlance) – but it is actually an historical method for producing a very fast red colour on cotton cloth using the dyestuff madder. As a collector of historical dye books and Journals it always thrills me to find one I’ve been particularly looking for. At the Antique Textile Fair in Manchester in the early noughties I found one of particular importance – The Art of Dyeing Wool, Silk and Cotton by Hellot, Macquer and M le Pileur d’Apligny. It is said to contain the first (European) written record of how…
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City of Blue
The theme of my posts for the moment is days out. Since lock down was released we are trying to make sure we get out somewhere 1 day a week. This year is so strange we’re making it as positive as possible. We are also lucky that this area is very textiley – there was a huge flax industry here in the past but much of the wealth came from Woad – Isatis tinctoria. Yesterday we went to Amiens for the day. Capital of Picardie. In the Middle Ages it was most famous for the blue dyestuff Woad. Traces can still be found from that period and, I’m pleased to…
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Workshops
2 New workshops for 2020 at a special introductory price being held at the Home of Dyeing – The Society of Dyers and Colourists, Perkin House, Bradford. Blue is the Colour : Monday 17th Feb 2020 at Perkin House, Bradford. £95 Magical, mystical, moody how many words conjure up the amazing blue colours that come from “Indigo”? Images of the sky and the sea in all their moods, so many shades of blue – come and create as many as you can! Learn the true name of this beautiful dyestuff, how to make up the vat. Dye solid shades and then try your hand at patterning using different techniques like…
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Ending the year on a HIGH!
I am thrilled to be able to tell you that I can now add the letters ASDC after my name. These stand for Associate of the Society of Dyers and Colourists and mean that I now have the equivalent of an Honours Degree in Natural Dyeing. The next stage will be to go for “CCol” or Chartered Colourist. ” The Associateship of the Society of Dyers and Colourists (ASDC) is the only professional qualification for colourists worldwide. Benchmarked by NARIC as equivalent to a UK Bachelor Honours Degree. Gaining this qualification allows the student to apply to be a Chartered Colourist. ” (taken from the SDC website.) Whilst there are many…
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Woad Balls
Way back in the mists of time MEDATS (Medieval Dress and Textile Society) ran a Dyeing Symposium Weekend and part of it was spent with John Edmonds making woad Balls. John had become fascinated with woad whilst volunteering at the Chiltern Open Air Museum after he had retired, he was an inspiration to many and is the reason that Reading University started its research into the Medieval woad Vat and the Spindigo project being started. First of all we picked the fresh leaves and put them into a bucket. then we chopped them up with the edge of a spade, chopping them small but not shredding. Then we picked up…
