madder – The Mulberry Dyer

Francesco, Niccolo and Agnolo

August 27, 2022August 27, 2022 by Deb Bamford

Deb Bamford

Datini Palace, Prato 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…

A few changes coming

June 13, 2021June 13, 2021 by Deb Bamford

Deb Bamford

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)

January 27, 2021 by Deb Bamford

Deb Bamford

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!

December 2, 2020December 2, 2020 by Deb Bamford

Deb Bamford

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…