Love Hearts

Using Ochre pigments I got in Provence to colour handmade paper cloth. Flowers made from wool dyed with plants grown in Shetland.

Dyeing wool with flowering heather

The peat hills in Shetland become purple and pink as summer continues and the Heather flowers. It is a beautiful sight and knowing that the Heather offers opportunity for the dye pot an additional bonus!

I grow Heather in the dye garden and harvest the flowering tips whilst listening to the Laverick, (skylark), singing and sea lapping, making sure I choose a day with bright sun to draw the pigment up and little wind :)

Yellow and green and even grey can be found in the process of dyeing. To see how to dye wool using Heather visit the website and find the link on the plant dyes page at http://www.spindriftcrafts.com/#/dyeing-with-heather/4578228679

Enjoy!

Driftwood and flowers, Sea and Sun

Creative thinking so often comes at night! After a day walking on a small island, one of Shetlands beautiful places, I was sitting thinking about a beach I had seen. Driftwood has often featured in various pieces of craftwork I've made and my meandering thoughts led to to consider how I could bring together the Shabby Chic Shetland and the Shetland Naturally projects. Here is the result of the journey .......

Memories of Summer

The flowers are all made using handspun wool and dyed naturally with plant dyes. The plants are all grown in my Natural Dye garden. Woad for blues and violets, madder root for reds and oranges, marigold and willow for yellows and beiges, heather for yellow. The greens were obtained by using yellow dye vats, (marigold and docken), then an iron after mordant to shift the colour to green. The iron mordant is made by leaving a rusty nail in a jar of white vinegar for a couple of weeks and then using a little of the mixture in the dye vat.

I am enjoying making these flowers as summer shines over the Isles and Shetland colour is flourishing in almost 24 hours of light each day! Simmer Dim!

Natural dyeing in the wild

Dyeing wool with marigold flowers on a wood burning stove using drift wood as fuel! 

All things natural.

Using old food container to create a new keepsake box

Saving used Brie cheese containers has been worth it! Using four stages of treatment this one has turned out as a Shabby Chic treasure box and was such fun to make.

New from Old

I found an old wicker basket, it was a bit damaged and cane coloured. Treating it to a bit of TLC I now have a Shabby Chic style fruit basket with naturally dyed flowers using Shetland handspan wool. I love creating new from old!