Dyeing with Buddleia

More news from Val:
"Hi .... the picture shows gold dyed wool, alpaca and mohair fibres which were simmered in a slow - cooker with 15 Buddleia flower heads and no mordant for 4 hours.  A mixture of white, purple and magenta flowers were used. All have the same deep yellow center.

Alongside, the same three fibers but with copper sulphate as the mordant, double the previous amount of flower heads, also slow-cooked for 4 hours produced a medium brown on the alpaca and mohair and very dark brown on the wool.

The next experiments will be with alum, iron and also blooms that have 'gone over' (turned brown)."

Thank you very much, Val - what striking colours.

Sadly, my own Buddleia isn't producing many flowers this year so I shall have to leave them for the butterflies.  It will be interesting to see how the 'gone over' flowers perform in the dyebath (and what they'll smell like!).

AC

Natural dyeing "show and tell", and a P.S.

Bryn writes:
"A brilliant display of natural dye plants, sample cards and fleece was set out by Val on Sunday. Shirley's ice dyeing samples of yarn and textile, and Edith's fleece and yarn completed this large exhibit. 

   Val took us through the choice of mordants, methods and selection of dye vessels. Solar pots of walnuts, and ideas for fomenting vegetable prunings in buckets of water were described. This was an all-inclusive talk by a very experienced Dyer.  

   Thank you Val, it was not to be missed."

Val adds:
"You might want to mention on the blog that further to our dye Show and tell, I have had great results with Buddleia flowers and will bring fibre samples to show on Monday evening. I would urge other guild members to have a go especially as no mordant is required.

Best wishes

Val "

All images copyright 2018

Friendship Day 2016: hello and goodbye

Once again, we had a lovely time at our Friendship Day meeting friends old and new.  Somehow, calling it a "friendship" day seems to guarantee a good atmosphere:  everyone comes to enjoy themselves, have a good natter and possibly do a bit of spinning.

The Committee and our Catering Officer (hello, Val!) arrived bright and early to set up the tables and get the kitchen under control, followed by our stallholders and their wonderful stuff.  Thanks to "Nunoco" for their grand spread of mixed and coloured fibres, Krithia for her pots (including some very desirable spinning bowls), Pea Restall of the Peculiar Gallery for some scrumptious ceramic buttons, and Helen Melvin for her naturally dyed fleece, books and inks.

Setting up...

Nunoco - their little packets of fibre have wonderful names: batt droppings, anyone?!

... and in full swing:

 

Especial thanks to Chris Jukes for bringing some of her enormous collection of spindles for "supported" spinning, and for giving a fascinating talk and demonstration.  

Chris taught herself to use a supported spindle in ten-minute bursts while watching the Tour de France some years ago, and is now completely addicted.  Her collection of spindles and spindle bowls must be second to none: all kinds from simple whittled wooden sticks to spindles with sophisticated spun glass ends like miniature paper weights.  After keeping us all spellbound by spinning a fine and even yarn, she generously allowed us to pore over the collection and a couple of brave souls had a go.....  the trick is to use a long draw technique, and to have a nice shiny and stable bowl on your knees to keep the spindle safe.

Many, many thanks to Bryn and Jenni for their hard work in organising the stalls, the raffle and the stash table (and thanks to Jenni for "fixing" the raffle so that everyone got a prize!).  Thanks also to those who brought cake and biscuits.  We packed up a little early, tidied and swept up and were out of the hall at four o'clock on the dot.  

As you may remember if you've been following this blog, we have a new venue for our Sunday meetings from next month onwards.  Today we said "goodbye / hwyl fawr"  to the Community Centre in Llanfair T.H., set the burglar alarm and locked up for the last time.  We have had some good times in Llanfair but we are looking forward to moving into our new home in Betws y Rhos for Katie Weston's core spinning workshop on May 8th.  See you there!

AC

All Wales Meeting, Llanidloes 2015

Another minor miracle - like bring-a-platter buffets which turn out to have just the right
ingredients without there being a plan - Abergele's display had a good selection of yarns, colours
and techniques. Although I didn't, Jenni did have a plan and the flow of textiles across our space represented a mountain range. Compliments were received! So, thank you everyone who put their work in. Fewer members of the public this year but guilds were out in force. Displays included a little black dress, woven boxes, unusual fibres such as yak. Ours was the only one to go Roman and use LX for 60 years on our Challenge board.

B.T.

Natural dyeing day.

On Sunday 14th. July we were Bryn's guests for a dyeing day:  the glorious weather allowed us to spend the entire day outside, where Bryn and Krithia set up a table of pots, pans, gas burners and assorted kit.  We brought our own fibre, already mordanted with alum, and Bryn and Krithia provided red onion skins, madder, logwood and rhubarb root (a mordant and a dye).  A lively breeze made for some entertainment with the gas burners, but there were no actual disasters.  After simmering the fibre in the dyepots (and making sure that the madder didn't get above 60deg. C) we tried the effects of "moderating" the dyes with vinegar or ammonia - with some interesting results.
We were surprised to get such a rich brown from the red onion skins - apparently a yellow or a green are more common.  The madder yielded a beautiful light purple, but then we realised that we had used soft water - hard water is recommended if you want the true madder red.

Red onion skins - which gave a deep brown dye on this occasion.

An amazing deep, deep purple from logwood.

Red onion skin dye!

Beautiful natural colours: logwood, madder (a lovely violet on this occasion as we used soft water "by mistake"), rhubarb and red onion skins.

As a bonus, Bryn had taken inspiration from India Flint (link to India's blog on the righthand side of this page) and prepared some mordanted fabric for us to try "bundle dyeing":  we carefully placed rose petals, red Kentish cob leave and fragments of dyed fibre on the fabric and then rolled, sprayed with water, rolled and sprayed until we had bundles of stuff which we secured with rubber bands.  Bryn kindly steamed the bundles and returned them with instructions to leave them for three months before unwrapping!  Can we wait that long?  (My bundle is quietly cooking inside a plastic bag on the dashboard of my car, and the colour is gradually leaching through to the outside of the fabric.)
Many thanks to Bryn and Krithia for making the day such a success, and thanks to Bryn for allowing us to share her lovely garden.  Congratulations to our newest recruit for picking up the techniques of handspinning so quickly!
AC.

Fine felt scarves

Here is the first photograph in what I hope will be a fine collection of scarves made in Helen Melvin's workshop:

Sherry B.

 

and some more:

Yvonne

Betty

Krithia

Crafts at Trefriw Woollen Mills 2010

Hand spinning demonstations:-

Every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 10 a.m. - 5 p.m until end September

Sunday 19th September and Saturday 25th September (http://www.helfagelf.co.uk/)

Wednesdays (Wendy Docksey) throughout October 10 a.m . 5 p.m.

Felt making demonstrations with Anne Campbell:-

Tuesdays throughout October 10 a.m .- 4.30 p.m.

Rag Rug making demonstrations with Christine Birch:-

Thursdays throughout October 10 a.m. - 5.00 p.m.

Textile Market Saturday 4th December and Sunday 5th December 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.:-

Handmade Christmas gifts plus materials and equipment for textile makers.

Demonstrations on Sunday morning:- hand spinning with hand spindle and spinning wheel, rag rug making, peg loom weaving, weaving on triangular loom, aran knitting, basket making, felt making,

Exhibitors:- Anne Campbell, Gwendolyn Docksey, Helen Melvin, Christine Birch, Mandy Coates, Maggie Oliver, Ann Hughes, Serentex, Gwen Owen, Margaret Hiorns, The Crafty Ladies

Glorious chocolate

Here are some photos of what you can do with ivy berries.  Many of us have only managed to dye a pinky grey with ivy, but Rosie has obtained a wonderful milk chocolate colour.  The picture really doesn't do it justice.  The secret, apparently, is to leave the ivy berries to soak for several days, and then mash and strain - and leave the vat again - before dyeing the yarn.  The lighter colour was obtained without a mordant; the darker colour with alum and then iron as a modifier.  The yarn is "coloured" Corriedale, but, take it from me, the fleece is barely off-white - certainly not this brown!
So, now we are all rushing off to have a go ourselves.  I have posted some preliminary photos on the Web Album 
AC

The first meeting of the New Year

We have finally had our first meeting in 2010, and welcomed a new member:  hello, Helen!  The weather has improved - at least for the time being - and we had a good turnout.   The photo shows wool coloured with natural dyes, bright and autumnal at the same time.  (Thanks to BT & HM)
AC

How indigo really works

Helen Melvin's blog today gives a link to a really interesting article on the way indigo "works".  The article is translated from the Japanese, but, despite some quaint phrasing, is very clear and contains some beautiful hand drawn diagrams which illustrate the underlying chemical processes.  The diagrams show exactly how the indigo gets into the fibres and sticks there, and also explain why natural indigo is brighter than the synthetic form.  Click here to go to the online article.  Even if you have no knowledge of chemistry you will find this easy to understand.  The author is to be congratulated on communicating so well in a "foreign" language.
AC