Monthly Archives: October 2013

You are browsing the site archives by month.

Table for 2 at Starbucks

After being introduced to my textiles partner which reminded me of a an episode of blind date, the only thing missing was Graham with his quick reminder!

Myself and Hannah met up for coffee to discuss each other’s projects and any initial ideas we had.

Hannah showed me samples of her previous work which gave me an insight into what was possible with weave.

As we slurped our way through a caramel macchiato and a calorie free tropical juice drink, we both came up with various possibilities on what to do.

I was interested in perhaps looking at police uniform and incorporating the woad in it somehow.

Early stages, but a good first introduction.

Making Hanks to dye for…

Today the process for woad dying in the weave room began as selected yarns had to be soaked in water for twenty four hours.

image

 

Using the natural yarns; silk, cotton, alpaca, bamboo, linen and wool we created hanks through winding them on frames.

For each yarn type  three bunches per person were needed, they are now soaking overnight, ready for tomorrow…

image-1

 

Woad Dyeing

Today, final preperation is underway for tomorrows Woad dyeing workshops and experiments.

Thanks to Ian Howard at Woad Inc in Norfolk the woad arrived this morning in fresh leaf form, as well as dried Woad balls, the traditional method of preserving woad for dyeing and as powdered pigment.

The Weave students are busy making hanks of yarn which will be soaked overnight ready to dip in the various Dye Vats tomorrow.

Hoping for some interesting results and looking forward to an exciting learning experience for all on this ancient natural dyeing process and everyones posts and comments on the day.

Please remember to bring your cameras to document and capture the event and to share your experiences of the different dye processes.

Fresh Woad leaf, woad balls and jar of pigment.

Fresh Woad leaf, woad balls and jar of pigment.

 

Skip to toolbar