Tuesday 16 October 2018

Natural Dyeing...

Last Saturday, eleven ladies braved the chilly spring October weather to have a go at Natural dyeing.
Lin started us off showing how she used lichen to dye, and we picked up many tips from her experience. ie Rain Water! (so all these samples used Balclutha tap water). Also none of these were pre mordanted ie we didn't have the alum to make an alum bath to pre-soak the wool before dyeing.

Brewing up of the natural leaves, bark and flowers can be a 'pongy' business so we worked outside,
and for the mixing of the mordants, alum and tin, we made sure we donned our gloves, masks and glasses. And brewing takes anywhere from 30 mins to 2 hours, so we learnt it takes patience.

everyone's samples of Onion skins (I think)

everyone's Walnut samples before rinsing

Kate's samples - all tagged and notated!

Mandy's samples - lots of different looks in different yarns

Jocelyn's silk scarf dyed with leaves and flowers
We learnt so much, had a laugh, and gleaned info from each other, and from the books in
our club library...
A full day but well worth it.... the raffle of handspun skeins was much appreciated by the winners,
and we will repeat this day, probably on Sunday Jan 28th. Please book in by emailing me - christinebennett290@gmail.com

happy spinning