Five of us met up last weekend for our second dyers workshop, at the Button Family farm in Carmarthenshire.
Steph's fleeces are alledged to be the 18th best sheep fleece in the UK, so the location was perfect!
After being introduced to the wool making team, who spent much of the weekend chewing in the adjacent fields, we set to work. The naalbinden cap was a kind present from Miriam Bloema of Archeon.
We spent day one on trial pieces with Madder, Marigold, Oak and Weld as dyestuffs, and Alum, Copper, Iron and Tin. Despite the lack of experience, we achieved a pleasing range of fast colours.
Day two was serious work getting our legionary scarves dyed a nice shade of madder red. I used my diamond twill hand woven wool for this. The results were rather pleasing!!
Next workshop will focus on waterproofing our garments with felting and greasing, I expect we will learn a great deal more.
