Natural Dyes

Members of The Online Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers are taking part in a natural dye workshop this month. I am taking part, as I have been thinking for some time that I should know more about this subject. I have amassed a stash of chemicals for such a project over the years, as periodically I decide to work with natural dyes.
I have been nervous about their use and somewhat disheartened years ago when a spinner/natural dyer asked me to weave with some of her yarns. They were not very light fast and so the idea of natural dyes was rejected.
My main inspiration for starting to take time to use natural dye extracts, at this time is, my friend and fellow member of the Bedfordshire Guild, Jenny Dean. In the recent past she has dyed skeins of silk for me to weave into scarves and her knowledge on the subject is vast. She is a great support and adviser to me on this adventure. Thank you Jenny.
I have used three extracts so far, madder, Red Lac and Golden Doc, with the idea that the handspun yarn dyed with these could be used in a knitted item - but for whom? I cannot wear wool and I'm sure my dear hubby won't want anything in pink.
The skeins in the picture from left to right, Blue faced Leicester fleece and wool roving, type unknown, have been dyed with 5% madder, Golden dock, Red Lac and were previously mordanted with alum.
The process of bringing the mordant bath to the boil and simmering the dye bath seems to have changed and improved the yarn. It is a great deal more open and fluffy than the undyed. When I have spun more I must take a photograph to compare!

I have been busy.
The above skeins are spun with Merino roving, the colours blended with the Beds Guild WSD new drum carder. I have been practising with it so I can show other new guild members how to use it most efficiently. The small skein was spun straight from the batt of blended fibre and I have more to spin. The larger skein is a fancy yarn created by introducing slubs of the individual colours to one bobbin of the 2ply yarn.

Trials of the drum carder

Well, where has the time gone again?
The Bedfordshire Guild of WSD bought a Louet drum carder last year and I am trialling it so I can instruct other members to use it efficiently. I love colour blending and spinning with colourful fibres to produce individual yarns. First of all I rainbow dyed some silk fibre to spin and then decided as most member work in wool, I would have a go at carding several shades of Merino together to see the results. There has been little waste of fibre but, apart from the silk, I have not spun the Merino into a yarn.
Above are the resulting Merino batts. I'm not sure about the lime green!

First card of 2010

I made this card last week for my childhood friend who I have not seen for 50 years. We keep in touch at christmas and her birthday is January 8th. I always thought it a shame to have to celebrate her birthday so soon after christmas and was glad that mine is in the middle of summer so the presents were spread during the year.
I used one stamp, the crocus, which came to me last year as a freeby with an order from Graphicus. I thought that the handpainted yellow flowers would be cheery at a time when so many of us are/have been snowed in with difficulties getting from place to place. Vivienne I hope you had a wonderful birthday.

Boxes

Well - a month since I last posted.
Christmas was very enjoyable with family around, so as they have received their pressies I can show the decorated boxes made to hold them. I didn't manage to photo them all before they were given and these pictures were taken after Christmas day.

The box on the left was covered with brown paper, coloured with the direct to paper technique, stamped and embossed with copper powder. It was made for Son no.2 girlfriend, as a jewelry box to hold a beaded necklace and earings made by me.

The gold box in the centre was given to my dear hubby filled with his favourite fudge. The decoration on the top is an Elusive Image stamp of Christmas Roses.
The right hand box has a removable fence on the outside. The box is decorated with tree, leaf and flower stamps, again from EI, to represent a country farm. Chris is threatening that he will have a pig to rear as soon as he has a garden of his own. Inside, as a 'joke' present we bought farm animals, including parent pig and piglet. I also made a 'put it together yourself', pig sty from corrugated card sprayed black and shredded straw coloured paper for bedding.

Where is the time going?

I am making the last of my Christmas cards and now I should be thinking of present shopping!!!
I have printed directly onto most of my cards this year saving a layer of paper and sticky. I have used Artylicious Season's Greetings CD and Elusive Images rubber stamps, embellishing where possible with glitter aand metallic card and tape.
The above is a one off and there's only DH to think of now.
I hope to post again before the festive season but just in case....
Merry Christmas to all. Happy New Year.

Heavens to Burco

It's such a long time since I last posted and so many things have happened but I'm going to start with the last project!!
A friend from our Beds Weavers, Spinners and Dyers brought her Baby Burco to me a couple of weeks ago and we dyed some of the Shetland Fleece that members of the guild had been given.
I can't wear wool but decided recently that I really should weave a project in my own handspun. The Shetland fleece presented a great opportunity.
First I washed and rinsed the fleece, having picked off any dirty areas and short fibres (second cuts), then put some of it into the Burco with sufficient water to wet the fibre. Having decided on reds, oranges and yellow for the colour scheme, we mixed the acid dyes and poured them randomly on top of the fleece, put on the lid and 'cooked'. The above fibre was the result.
We think the sheep had been shorn a little late because there are short fibres at the cut end. These had to be flick carded out of each lock, before the colours could be blended on the carders, other wise the yarn would have more 'texture' than I wanted.
In the centre of the picture you can see a batt which is made up 2/3fibres from the right and 1/3 of the wine colour on the left. Below are the three skeins of yarn I have spun.

(I have only outlined the dyeing method used. This is not full instructions)

First Meeting

John, Michael, Rosemary (John's wife)
On the 24th September two of my cousins, brothers, met for the first ime in their lives!!! How strange that must have felt for both of them. Unfortunately, it was on the day of their father's funeral.
My Uncle had been estranged from his first family since WW2 and discouraged his third son, by a different partner, from meeting his brothers. His eldest sadly died some years ago. I had neen looking for cousins John and Michael for some years, mainly using the Stokton telephone directory because that is where they lived with thier mother when I last met them. I was only a small child at the time and my parents had taken our grandmother to spend some time with the family. They were boisterous boys and I took little interest at the time. My interest began when I started to trace my family history.
Last summer, with Uncle John being 95, I decided I must get as much information as possible about his wife and her family in Stockton. He told me the names of her parents and siblings and straight away I entered the information on Genes Reunited. Within 24 hours I had contact with my Aunt's neice who was able to give me an address for my cousin Michael and his daughter. I wrote to them and the very next week while visiting my homeland of Northumberland I was able to meet my cousin and his family. How fantastic was that!!!
Michael, aged 70, had assumed that his father must have died years ago and, even though he had been 'abandoned as a child', was keen to meet his father. We cut our holiday short, realising that we needed to take Uncle John to meet his son as soon as possible. When he saw his son's photograph he would have left to meet him the next day but it took us time to make arrangements. Three weeks later they had their reunion and kept in touch each week.
Sadly, on a day trip to Eastbourne, Uncle John had a fall which broke his hip. After being transferred to his local hospital with a rehab. unit, sadly Uncle John died.
Hence, his two sons met for the first time at their father's funeral. Mixed emotions!!! The half brothers got on well and ended up spending three days together, the first at the funeral, then at the scattering of their father's ashes. The third day was Sunday lunch for myself, hubby and Michael at his brother John and wife Rosemary's home in Camberly.
My Family and The Stephensons.

On the day of our visit to Camberly we were taken on a visit to Winchester. What a bizare sight we came across. Great excitement by the river caused by a duck race. Hundreds of numbered yellow, plastic ducks released down the river in a race.

I know Michael was sad to go home but intends to travel south again as soon as he is able.