All Blog Posts — Natural Dyeing

Mothering Sunday conveniently fell on the weekend of Fibre Quest this year and, as my daughter and I were visiting my folks, we turned it into a family outing.   Fernhill Farm,  is an eco-farm in Somerset that has been breeding sheep for over thirty years and advocates the principles of Regenerative Farming (RF), a system of working the land that offers an alternative to intensive farming practices. It aims to work in harmony with nature to restore soil health and biodiversity, contributing to the enrichment of the local ecology and the mitigation of climate change. Fibre Quest is a...

Find out what you'll learn in 'An introduction to natural dyeing: A self-paced online course'. From dyeing with onion skins and acorns, to indigo and madder root, this easy-to-follow course will show you how.

I had intended to strain the crushed oak galls a few days after putting the jar on the windowsill to steep but, as so often happens, the days slipped by and it was a full week before I separated the murky brown liquid from the galls (1).   I strained it first through a sieve (2) and then through a coffee filter paper (3) to be sure of removing all the woody sludge, and was left with a cloudy, dark brown liquid.   I then added two teaspoons of gum Arabic solution (4) to create a more viscous ink and to help it adhere to whatever paper it's applied to.    In order to darken the...