Natural dyeing Archives - Page 3 of 6 - Jane Mercer Felt Artist

Should I dye with an aluminium or a brass pan ?

A few weeks ago I was lucky to come across this beautiful brass pan in a charity shop. Of course, I bought it. How could I not? So I now have two aluminium jam pans, one enamel pan, one teflon coated pan and my new brass pan. All either bought second hand or given to me. The question I want to answer is does the pan I use for dyeing make a difference to the final dye colours. Brass I understand from Wikipedia is made from copper and zinc. Copper acts as a mordant as does aluminium. I thought the only way to answer to my question was an experiment. The same dyestuff, the same fibres and the same dye process. Then I can see if the pan material makes a difference. I just happened to have quite a large quantity of hawthorn flowers. So the terms of my experiment could be…

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21/05/2017

Natural dyeing / Wet felting

It’s May : Harvesting time for natural dye materials

Suddenly the weather in the North East of England has got sunny and reasonably warm. Of course, it is not forecast to last long! One of the challenges of making naturally dyed felt art is to keep sufficient stock of your natural dye materials. So while the sun is shining and the sap is rising I need to get out and harvest supplies of natural dye materials to store for the rest of the year. Nettles Abundantly available and easy to pick with some sharp scissors and some good gardening gloves. I am now drying my harvest, to use later. I have not dried nettles before so it will be interesting to see how the colour is affected by the drying process. Dock One of my favourites. as it dyes silk such a wonderful olive colour. I have used dock successfully as a dried natural dye material and so out…

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14/05/2017

Natural dyeing / Wet felting

My exciting new method to make naturally dyed felt pictures

My first felt pictures with my new natural dye method are based on the tun house at the Peak Alum works in Ravenscar, UK. Really I should say based on the remains of the tun house. Today this is all you can see. Helpfully a drawing by the National trust gives an idea of what the tun house would have looked like in the 17th century. I choose this place because it is beautiful and today is quiet and peaceful,. Once the Alum it produced was an essential component of the natural dyeing process and it would have been smelly and dirty. it a good example of the ability of the earth to recover. A like the idea of exploited land recovering and also of this natural dyeing chemistry link across the years. I choose this place because today it is beautiful and quiet and peaceful. Once the Alum it produced…

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16/04/2017

Natural dyeing / Wet felting

The challenges of my new natural dyeing technique

When I first got into natural dyeing of felt, I wanted to make all white pieces and then dye them as a whole. Doing this was unique and special as all the different fibres were subtle shade variations. This process was great and taught me a lot about natural dyeing, but I towards the end of last year I was becoming frustrated with the end results of my l technique. I thought maybe I needed a new natural dyeing technique. Why did I need a new natural dyeing technique? My make it white, then dye the finished pieces, made beautiful pieces but they contained only a limited range of colours. This is perfectly obvious as they had all only seen the same dye bath. Special though it was I felt that the pieces were a bit boring as there was not much light and shade or colour variation. I was also frustrated…

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02/04/2017

Natural dyeing

My wonderful palette of natural yellow dye

I am dyeing batches of fibres and fabrics with natural yellow dye. Some of these will remain yellow but most will be turned green. Many many plants give yellow dyes. It is probably the most common natural dye colour. The chemicals involved in the dyeing process vary and are quite complicated. One group of chemicals are known as flavonoids, which are split into the flavones and the flavonols. There are also the isoflavones, the chalcones and the Aurones groups. If this isn't complicated enough there are also carotenoids which give yellow to orange colourants and not surprisingly are found in carrots. Natural yellow dye from alder cones I love collecting Alder cones, filling my pockets with them whilst out on a walk, especially at this time of the year. Once they have been collected they can be stored and used anytime. Extraction of the dye is easy. The cones are high in…

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12/03/2017

Natural dyeing

Why was I nervous of indigo dyeing ?

I have had an irrational fear of indigo dyeing for a number of years. I think it could be a blue hands phobia. Indigo dyers all seem to get blue hands and I hate blue hands. Here is how I persuaded myself to start and my results Indigo is the only solution for green. For my new series of pieces, I need naturally dyed green wool fibres and fabrics. A variety of greens. Many native plants give yellows, but not many give good greens. Green is usually achieved by over dyeing yellow with weld or indigo. I reluctantly decided that I had no option but to use indigo dyeing or abandon my whole project. Indigo requires chemicals I would have liked to have used a fermentation vat if I was going to dye with indigo as it is more environmentally friendly. This can only possibly work in the summer, and here…

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05/03/2017

Eco Dyeing / Natural dyeing

Contributing as a maker to the Ethel Mairet Dye project

Ethel Mairet was a weaver and a natural dyer. In 1916 she wrote a book about natural dyeing. In the book's introduction, she complained that since the advent of the coal based dyes the knowledge of natural dyes had been lost. Coal based dyes were introduced around 1850. This was in 1916 ! She also stated that both natural and chemical dyes fade. But when natural dyes fade they produce paler shades of the original colour. Chemical dyes, she claimed, fade to different colours, generally bad ones. Her book and her work are being celebrated by an exhibition at the Ditchling museum of art and craft. The exhibition is called " Contemporary makers celebrate Ethel Mairet's legacy. " I am one of the contemporary makers. As a contemporary maker, I have to dye a skein of fibre using natural dyes. I can use either a recipe of Ethel's or my own…

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29/01/2017

Eco Dyeing / Natural dyeing / Wet felting

Why natural dye records are important to me

When I first stepped into the world of natural dyes, I kept no records I just winged it. I have really learned from my mistakes. As I embark on a new batch of dyeing so thought I should go back and look at my natural dye records - good and bad - to see what they could tell me. It was in 2013 that my youngest daughter gave me Jenny Deans book on natural dyeing. This book became slowly my bible. In May of 2014, I was attracted by a huge mass of blooming dandelions and thought that maybe that would make some lovely dye stuff. Let's try it! Armed with Jenny's book of recipes I set off to dye some silks and cotton fabric. I never gave a thought to keeping some natural dye records. Not one thought. In fact in 2015 one year later I wrote, against a small sample…

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22/01/2017

British wool fibres / Eco Dyeing / Natural dyeing / Wet felting

Time for me to have a radical new natural dye process

When I first started using natural dye material I made all white felt pieces containing other fabrics and fibres and then I dyed the felted textile. I have decided I need to radically change my natural dye process. My original all in one natural dye process My all in one process gives a lovely range of connected shades. Everything has been dyed with the same plant material. Lovely but quite limited. Sadly I have also come to the conclusion that it makes boring pieces. There is not enough light and shade or colour variation to make the pieces exciting. Shame. My other reason to change I inadvertently developed two felting methods. One method for pieces that I planned to be naturally dyed and one for pieces made with pre-dyed materials. The felt method I prefer to use is the one I used with the pre-dyed materials. But I really want…

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08/01/2017

Eco Dyeing / Natural dyeing / Wet felting / Wool

How I forage for beautiful natural dye materials

The collection of natural dye materials moves with the seasons. You must harvest fruit when it is are ripe and flowers as they bloom. Harvesting opportunities arise quickly and are short-lived. It is not always possible for me and maybe for you to dye straight away. So I store the dye material away ready for a dyeing day. I have been collecting for quite a while ! In fact I can't really stop myself when the opportunity presents itself. Except I make it a rule only to harvest any natural dye plant material if there is an abundance of the plants , flowers or berries. If I can only find one if two plants , I just walk away. Harvesting lichens for natural dyeing Last week in the UK the weather was windy and wet. This week was cold and dry. As I walked in the woods on Tuesday and there…

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11/12/2016