Pure-Tinctoria Dyes

Today at work I tried out some powdered natural dyes called 'Pure-Tinctoria', these are dyes we sell at the Handweaver's Studio & Gallery, I wanted to dye with them because the samples we have on display in the shop are really dull.  This is also the first time I have used a mordant when dyeing, the samples produced for each dye bath are one mordanted with alum and one pre-soaked in salt.  I have used Red Lac, Purple Lac, Madder root, Rhubarb root (no mordant used) and Acacida Gum and 100% Wool.

Purple lac

Red Lac

Red Lac

Left to right - Purple Lac pre-soaked with salt, purple lac pre-mordanted with alum, Red Lac pre-soaked with salt, Red Lac pre-mordanted with alum.

Same as above with Madder on the end.

Closer look at Madder Root dyed yarn.

Left to right, Rhubarb root and washing soda, Acacia Gum pre-mordanted with alum, Acacia Gum pre-soaked in salt.

Weaving with love...

So, a couple of months ago I started my work placement at the Handweavers Studio & Gallery, Seven Sister's Road, London.  So far I have been doing all sorts, working with so many different types of yarn and dealing with various customers.  So, for my first post I just wanted to share my first piece of weaving for the company, it's not great!  I specialise in dyeing and knitting, so my weaving isnt spot on but hopefully this is something I can work on throughout the time I am with the company!  I made the warp myself with a yarn called Foxfibre cotton:

So, at this point I started to realise why weavers get so stressed out! haha...

Just a quick practice run, doesn't look perfect but this was because my tension on my warp was wrong, so I had a bit of help fixing that before I continued...

The sample here is going to be for the shop floor.  The yarn is very interesting, as when washed the colour changes.  So when the PH level becomes more alkaline the yarn becomes greener! I am hopeing to knit up some samples in this yarn soon, I am on the hunt for a decent knitting machine! More photos of how this is progressing soon!!

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