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All Blog Posts — Natural Dyeing

A Few Words about Oak Gall Ink... (Part Two)

Claudia Gosse Natural Dyeing

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...

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A Few Words about Oak Gall Ink ....

Claudia Gosse All Blog Posts Natural Dyeing

"There are as many types of oak gall as there are oak gall wasp"

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The Pleasures and Pitfalls of Naturally Dyeing Linen Yarn

Ellie Fisher All Blog Posts Natural Dyeing

There is nothing more rewarding than to head out in search of seasonal, foraged dyestuffs and to watch them transform your fibres into an artist's palette of colours, from subtle to bold and always surprising. My successes this year included dandelion heads in the spring, summer comfrey leaves, autumn black walnut hulls, and wild cherry bark from a fallen tree this winter. But the time-honoured, reliable natural dyes, such as indigo, madder and weld, exploited by ancient and skilled dyeing communities around the world for millennia, are indispensable. Happily, I have much more to discover.

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A Weekend of Natural Dyeing in France

Ellie Fisher All Blog Posts Natural Dyeing News

What better way to spend the weekend than hopping over to France for two days of natural dyeing. Many of you will know that my Mum, Claudia, and I have started working together. I was struggling to find eco yarns that were naturally dyed so Mum, building on a life-long interest in fabric and dress making, started naturally dyeing yarns for me to weave with. Through our research into natural dyeing we came across Ian Howard, owner of the only commercial woad production centre in the UK. Ian highly recommended we contact Debbie Bamford, an expert in natural dyeing, who has been researching...

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