A few changes coming
I've been very lax about writing posts here, sorry, that doesn't mean that nothing is happening! So here's an update! - We intend to start running online courses "live" these are currently in the planning stage, but will be listed here soon. There are so many " introduction to" "beginner"…
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…
Something a bit different!
For one of the most complex dye processes there is, the first stage is to dunk your cotton (and it should be cotton - either yarn or cloth) into a bath made up of sheep dung dispersed in water. As I no longer own my own sheep I was lucky…
Flanders Flax
One of the things I love about Hautes de France is the fact that flax is still a major crop. It has been grown here for over a thousand years and although very mechanised these days it is still in principle the same process. In the spring we see the…
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…