Natural Yarn Dye Workshop with Ria Burns

 

So by chance I saw an advert on Museum In The Park to attend a natural dye workshop.

 

Ria Burns has a huge wealth of knowledge having studied a textile masters at Bath Spa.  She has also just reloacted from Bristol to a more rural location that I know well in Congesbury.  I know the area well as it is very close to where I grew up!  She now has a studio and workshop space.

 

Ria brought along a lot of interesting information including her notebooks created while studying showing differnt yarn dye experiments. 

At the beginning of the course Ria explained the different types of fibres that you can use to dye with.

Protein fibres include fibre from Sheep's wool, Llama and Alpaca's.  You can also use Cellulose fibres such as Cotton, Hemp and Silk.

 

Plants that are used for dyeing fall into three categories.

 

Substantive dyes Walnuts, Pomegranate skins, Gall nuts, Turmeric, Indigo and Cochineal beetle. 

These dyes DO NOT require the Mordant process to maintain the colour fastness.

 

Adjective dyes Madder, Weld, Coreopsis, Onion skins.  Both Indigo and Cochineal are both substantive and adjective dye.  Adjective dyes DO require the mordant process of the fibre to maintain the colour.

 

Fugitive dyes Red cabbage, Beetroot, Blackberries will fade in time. Fugitive dyes DO require the mordant process of the fibre to maintain the colour.

 

For dyeing the yarns they are best dyed in hanks with the yarn being tied in four places to hold it together whilst in the dye pot.

 

Depending on the dye being used you may first need to mordant the fibre which is a process that forms a chemical bond with the natural fibre to hold the dye. The Alum mordant if used on it's own would leave the fibre feeling course, so the cream of tartar makes it feel softer.

 

For the workshop everyone received 8 mini skeins (approx 10g) each skein of undyed yarn had been mordanted with Alum 9% and Cream of Tartar 7%.  

 

In order from bottom to top the yarns (I hope I have it correct) are:

1. Somerset Lambswool 4ply Shetland Romney Grey
2. Dorset Horn DK White
3. Swaledale Aran Ecru
4. Wensleydale DK Ecru
5. Herdwick Chunky Grey
6. Bluefaced Leicester DK White
7. Bluefaced Leicester/Masham 4ply Grey
8. Shetland Romney Lambswool 4ply White

For dyeing our yarn there were four dye options.

First is Madder or it's Latin name Rubia Tinctorum.  A fascinating dye option where the root is used to produce a red dye.  The history of this being used as a dye dates back over 5000 years and traces of it have been found in the linen of  Tutankhamen’s tomb (1350 BC).  To obtain a big enough root can take the plant up to five years of growth for it to be sufficently big enough for use.

 

The next is Avocado is again a natural dye that has been used for centuries by indigenous peoples across Central and South America, as well as the Caribbean.  

Both the skin and the stone inside can be used.  For the best preservation for use for dyeing is to clean off as much of the green flesh as possible and then freeze until required for dyeing.  It is interesting as getting a lovely pink hue from Avacado's can be affected not just from the Avacado itself but also the water hard or softness.  Also the darker the skin of the Avacado the deeper the pink dye.  To be able to get a reasonable amount of dye you would need about eight Avocado's.

Third is dye option is the Red Dahlia and Orange Dahlia.  If you growing your own plants you can leave the flowers to start going over and use the petals as they are starting to fade.  To save have the remainds of the flowers on your finished yarn it is best to soak the flowers in water until you have got a good amount of colour and then strain through a muslin cloth leaving the lovely orange water for dyeing with.

The final dye option was Weld Latin name Reseda Luteola.  Often grown as a cottage garden plant with yellow flowers growing to a height of 1.5 metres.  The whole of the plant above ground is used, but most of the colour comes from the leaves.

 

To dye the fibre, firstly heat the water gently to a maximum of 80 degrees then add the fibre. If the water is any warmer than 80 degrees fibre will felt. 

 

To obtain a good amount of colour you need to dye the yarn for at least an hour but stirring every 15 minutes to ensure the colour is absorbed.  After an hour you can turn off the heat and leave overnight to continue absorbing the dye.

During our dyeing we used Litmus paper to measure the pH levels of the water.  

 

For a more Alkaline pH add Soda Crystals which can be purchased from a supermarket, to alter to pH. To make the pH more Acidic add Lemon juice or vinegar.

 

These where all the finished hanks of yarn that everyone did.  

Different methods where used in the dye pots, from tyeing knots in the yarn, or leaving part of the yarn out so that the dye worked it's way up the hank.  But most were fully immersed.

These were my finished eight hanks of yarn which I felt it only right to photograph in my garden.

 

This yarn was dyed in the Avacado pink dye.

 

 

These two hanks were dyed in the Madder red dye.  One of them being tied first while the other had the solid colour.

 

 

 

The Weld yellow dye I fully covered the first hank and the second was dipped in leaving some of the natural colour exposed.

 

 

The final three hanks all went into the Dalia orange dye pot.  I tied all of them to create the lovely varigated colour of the hank from natural to dyed. 

I am going to knit all the hanks up into a wall hanging which I shall proudly display in my craft room.

 

If you ever get a chance to attend one of Ria's course I highly recommend it, she is so informative and it was a great way to spend four glourious hours. 

 

 

Charmouth Beach, Dorset

Well if ever anyone wants to know the quickest way to my "happy" place, then just show me the way to the beach!

For me the combination of the sound of the sea, the fresh air brings me such joy.

While I can imagine in the height of summer Charmouth beach would be very busy, but when visiting in May their was a reasonable amount of people  There was enough space for everyone to able to spread out so it did not feel over crowded.

I have a fascination with the variety of colours and the incredible history that goes into the differnet pebbles found on beaches.  But the variety at Charnmouth was just immense.

The beach is made up of rocks going back to the early Jurassic period over 195 million years ago.  Comprising of layers of mud, silt and clay layers that were laid down in a shallow sea.

It is just incredible to think of the history and whilst we did not find any fossils which the area is known for, I was so happy to see the rocks.

This rock was just incredible with all the different colours.

We were so lucky with the weather being a lovely 18 degrees with a nice breeze you can not go wrong.

So alongside admiring all the rocks we also checked to see if we would spot anything in the rock pools.  Their certianly was a good variety of barnicals attatched to other big rocks.

When we visited I did not see anyone use the beach huts, but I have a feeling that they would certainly well used during certain times of the year.  

But at a cost of £498 for a small hut and £620 for a large between May and September, it is not something I shall experience!

This was the view over to Lyme Regis which you can in low tide walk along the beach and reach the town.  What a great walk that would be.

For a sense of scale of the gigantic cliff I asked my friend to stand near by to show just how huge it is!  Athough behind her you can see where there had been a recent landslide which must have been terrifying to see.  

Worryingly some people where there with there hammers chiselling away at the cliff face trying to find fossils.  I can't lie seeing people smashing one rock on another in the hope of discovering a rock and hammering away I did find really sad.  If I came across a fossil that nature had exposed that would be incredible, but it honestly just felt like vandelism to hack away and very rarely find anything.

Whilst the sea is not a crystal clear blue it was still lovely to take a dip and feel the water rushing up over your feet, it was so refreshing and fun thing to do.

The inspiration is just everywhere when you look closely, I mean just look at this incredible vivid green algae.

 

We also came across these amazing looking shingle formations where the cliff face had fallen.  But it looked like it was from another planet.  In amongst it were tiny amounts of what looked just like Devil's Gold when combined with the shingle with little spots of gold popping out.

On the walk back to the van we came acoss what I would image are very photographed rock statues that someone had spent time creating.  They were just perfect.

I had also spent a good couple of the most enjoyable hours sat crotcheting.

These where the rocks completly different from Teignmouth which I had to bring home and cherish. You can just look at some rocks and see so many different things in them.

So that was the end of another incredible day.

If you enjoy reading the blog, please feel free to comment, I'd love to hear what you think.

Holiday home of Agatha Christie - Greenway

The last day of my short trip to Devon involved a lovely trip to Agatha Christie's holiday home Greenway. 

I have loved reading her novels for years.  Incredibly, she wrote 66 murder mystery novels.

Hercule Poirot feautred in 33 of the novels and Miss Marple featured in 12 of them.

It's a tough one to pick between the two characters, but as Miss Marple knits, I think she would have to be my favourite detective!

I have in a previous blog mentioned how I think it is so cost-effective to be a member of the National Trust.  Not only from the point of view of saving money when visiting places, assuming that you like to do this of course).  But it also helps support many amazing places which are dotted around the country.

As you walk around the initial part of Greenway, you are greeted with a full-sized tennis court, where they have left rackets and balls so you can have your own game.  But it's so fun to think Agatha could well have played here.

There was such a variety of flowers and a very big area that was planted with nature in mind, which was so lovely to see.

I do not think I have seen anywhere a single seat before when I have walked around various grounds.  But I did love this idea.

On the way down to the boathouse at the property I came across this statue that just looked so serene.

The River Dart starts up on Dartmoor and winds it's way 60km down to Dartmouth.  

I have been on the river a handful of times and the river is always busy with activity which is such fun to watch.

Earlier this year Clare Balding - Tales from the River Bank did a great tv show and features going to Greenway.  I highly recommend it, it's a lovely watch.

 

Also if you want to read a book that uses the boathouse as inspiration then Dead Mans Folly is the one to get. 

 

To get to Greenway you can either drive, but please be warned you MUST pre book parking for the National Trust car park.  

 

Or you can come on a by ferry which I would imagine is a lovely way to see the house and gardens.

 

Everything that is on display in the property was once owned by Agatha and her family, which gives it a really homely feel.

This incredibly ornate object I found amazing.  Unfortunately, I did not get any information about it though regarding how it was made and how it came to be in the house.

This is an iconic shot that I think most people associate with Agatha Christie and was so lovely to see it displayed with the other pictures on the piano.

 

 Also in the same room was an incredible collection of such detailed stamps that had been collected.

 This ornate mirror was another very interesting item in the house.

The family tree seemed a very small one, but Agatha had a Grandson Mathew Prichard who now owns the rights to her publications.

 I absolutely loved these very well-used cookbooks in the kitchen.

Agatha Christie's travelled with was her second husband, archaeologist Sir Max Mallowan. They married in 1930 and he was a prominent archaeologist, who led many expeditions in the Middle East. Christie often joined him on these digs, which influenced her writing, particularly in "Death on the Nile" and "Murder in Mesopotamia".

I also loved to see her wardrobe and could so imagine her wearing the clothes, but I think that is down to the amazing way they have filmed her book adaptations over the years.

The suitcase in the wardrobe also looked very well used.  The brushes on the stands look nothing like the types we use nowadays.

The house had two living rooms, but this was my favourite with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves containing so many books.

I remember from watching Claire Baldings tv show that she said Agatha herself had placed the cork on the end of the doorstop snake as the tongue was very sharp and could cause some serious damage.

I do so love having a tea and scone when I visit the National trust and this flavour combination did not disappoint.

Before heading home a spot of crochet with the house as the backdrop and the classic wooden deckchair was just so nice.