Firstly I would like to wish all my readers, followers, customers and friends a Happy New Year – may it bring peace and happiness and what you desire.

“The time has come”, the Walrus said or actually I am saying – it’s a New Year better continue with the changes. You probably remember I had a pacemaker fitted in 2019, I was warned then not to lift anything really heavy – it could cause serious damage to my heart if the leads get pulled out – so the decision has been made not to dye cloth or large hanks of wool any longer. They are just too heavy!

Combine this with the move to Leeds to study and it seems logical to part with the largest of our dye vessels – if they aren’t there, I can’t be tempted!

So on that note allow me to introduce you:-

Firstly,

Zebedee, my cloth dyeing bath, which can dye a maximum of 6m of cloth 60 inches wide. It comes with 3 gas burners, the bath itself, rollers and the frame. Made for me based on the Medieval Dyers method of rolling cloth, it is manually operated, but could probably be electrified fairly easily. I actually enjoy standing and rolling the cloth watching the colour develop – it’s very therapeutic!

I have used it over the years to dye many meters, but sadly the weight of the wet cloth is now too much for me to handle and lift onto the roller.

Next there is Ermintrude, she is a lovely stainless steel ex milk tank, ideal for mordanting the pieces of cloth prior to going into Zebedee, alternatively she has dyed many blankets blue and wool fibre red … she has electric elements in the bottom and connects via waterproof sockets. (as you can see!)

I love Ermintrude, she is so efficient and useful!

Next we have Dylan who is a large cast iron bath, used mainly for scouring and mordanting, with a plywood lid covered in a waterproof cloth.

There are no chips in the enamel, but some interesting small stains developing!

Mr Rusty is very similar to Dylan – but has been used only to do iron mordanting, You wouldn’t want to use him for anything other than iron mordanting, again the waterproof plugs are ideal for dyehouse use (sorry no photos of Mr Rusty at the moment)

There are some other items that I will be parting with too, but let’s start with these guys!

They are in France, (about an hour and a half’s drive south of Calais) so if you would be interested in them keep that in mind and on that note, do please email privately if you would like to discuss price and availability.