Glorious colours from the garden

Amazing how the colours from plants can be transferred to wool as natural dyes.

Onions to dye for.........

The onions grew really well this year in the garden. The first dyed wool using dried onion skins seemed to reflect autumn colours back to me :)

Fruity natural dye colours

Everything in the dye garden this year has grown so well. Now September has arrived and the colours of the Rowan berries, Rosehips, Blackcurrants all enticed me to try some new natural dye experiments. I am excited by the results, pinks and peach colours from Rosehips, Blackcurrants woad and an alum mordant. Also I have been soaking so,e old copper pipe I found on the beach in white vinegar to use as a mordant. A beautiful clear blue/green is the delightful colour that this experiment produced.

Newly dyed skeins of wool ready for some different Shabby Chic projects! Lots of ideas ahead :)

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!