Pages

Monday 5 August 2013

PLANT DYEING WORKSHOP/ PFLANZENFAERBEN

Here a few pictures from very interesting plant dyeing workshop with Dorothea Fisher.


Hier ein paar Fotos von einem sehr interessanten Pflanzenfaerbekurs mit Dorothea Fischer.


We used / Wir haben mit 

Dahlia flowers / Dahlienblueten 









Brazil Wood / Rotholz

   


and Madder Root / Krapp Wurzel
  


Everybody had a lot of fun despite the hard work/ Trotz der harten Arbeiten hatten wir eine Menge Spass





And there was time for rest and food and chatting


 



And here are the results/ und dies sind die Ergebnisse







For more pictures and information go to Dorothea's website
Weitere Fotos und Informationen gibt es auf Dorotheas website




5 comments:

Carol said...

Welcome home, so nice to have you back. Wish you were able to pop up to JHB and join in the dyeing for the project. We had great fun on Tuesday. Erika says she will post your fibres down to you. The course looked gruelling I’m amazed you had any time to relax! That is an incredible amount of wool you dyed. No wonder you were tired at the end of the days. I guess you were going for absolute colours and had to follow the recipes to the letter. I’ve always found natural dye colours difficult to reproduce in the middle of a project when one’s run out of the last bit still needed. An individual colour always changed for me depending on the season, soil content and time of picking. How did you get past batch differences?

linda said...

Thanks, Carol,
well, we had this discussion before - I never bother too much with reproducing a specific colour. If I run out in the middle of a project I see this as an opportunity to change my design :-D - I know, I know - but that is how I work.
Even the industrial dyed yarns carry a lot no. and there is no guaranty that the same colour with a different lot no will be the same. If they can't do it why should I fret about it.

Being relaxed about it makes life a lot easier and the designing process a lot more enjoyable.

I think that the differences you mentioned were the reason why we were dyeing such a large amount of yarn at the same time. I presume when you want to sell the yarns it is a good idea to have plenty of one dye lot for customers who are working on large projects and might not be relaxed about differences.

We might never agree on this - but I am enjoying the discussion :-D

Carol said...

Mmm, it is something that has always bothered me so I never tire of hashing it over. I’ve not the imagination to change my design when I’ve run out of any colour but have been pretty successful in reproducing commercial colours close enough to mix the threads for 6 rows and have nobody notice the tiny batch colour hitch. Something I’ve never managed with natural dyes. I thought they colours you achieved on the course vibrant so am looking forward to hearing more about the mordants. Oh and that’s another reason I like the commercial dyes – my natural dyes have always come out so muted and earthy. No good for and exiting look.

Unknown said...

Your colors are spectacular! what a community you have there. Using flowers for dyes with such vivid results. Are you ever planning on producting or overseeing a line of yarns for public sale?

I know i worked for years in theatre period costumes and was passionate that they were reproduced as they were originally constructed with details & colors consistant with the period...and i never had time for anything else...because that was my passion.

I loved theatre because it was a home for so many arts, music, writers, actors, textile design, etc...Ravelry is like that home for artists. I am certainly glad to see your work, it is wonderful
terryauch

linda said...

Thank you for your kind words, Terry,
it was a week of very hard work - 18 kg of wool were dyed in 4 days. Dorothea's dye kitchen is very well equipped and the event was very well organized.
linda