Introduction to Natural Dyeing and Wool Processing

Join us for a day exploring natural dyes and the rainbow of vibrant colours that can be created on wool.

The Outside have been dyeing with plants for more than 15 years. The workshop facilitators are Romilly and Flow. Romilly has completed a masters in Anglo-Saxon dyeing in Great Britain which provides an extensive understanding of dyeing through history and is underpinned by her knowledge of plants. Flow has a thorough understanding of mordants and their applications and has run multiple mordanting trials over the years and is skilled in wool processing. 

During the day we will cover:

Preparation of wool fibre including scouring, rinsing, mordanting and wetting up.

Preparation of dye vats including water types, pans, containment of dyestuffs, heating, stirring and pH adjustments.

Processing of fleece including sorting, picking, carding, spinning and skeining with regard to the pros and cons of dyeing at each stage.

Looking at the range and fastness of colours feasible from natural dyes plus growing, sustainable gathering, drying, further processing and storage of natural dyes.

Dye vats will be heated over a wood fire (weather permitting) and each participant will be able to take home small samples of dyed fleece and any wool spun and dyed