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Francesco, Niccolo and Agnolo
The building may look a little in need of some repair, but you can see it has had status! I adore this building in the city of Prato, Italy. It was built back in the 14th Century by a gentleman called Francesco di Marco Datini. All it’s history is still within the building – the open doorway takes you inside the Palace … The artwork on the walls is fabulous – imagine what it must have looked like back in the late 1300’s when all was beautiful and new. The display boards at the side tell you about the man who had the palace built and his work. So, why…
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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” “learn to” type courses – maybe you’d like to suggest some topics that would be interesting to cover? Due to the changes in VAT selling in / to Europe the shop will be temporarily closed before the end of the month until we have sorted how we can deal with this. As we are a small British business we do…
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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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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 to find a field accessible and with the permission of the owner (all current guidelines being followed of distancing, mask wearing, mixing with others, etc). I was able to wander round the field and collect sufficient for the amount of cloth I want to prepare. More information on this particular subject will be coming up in the New Year, for…
