Just a quick little post to show you a little of what I've been doing since we got back from the UK. There's been lots of gardening, grass cutting, and weeding, but in my spare time I've been trying to get this little lot carded :-
for this year's Tour de Fleece, which starts in 5 DAYS!!!
All of these have been dyed with plants and lichen, apart from the white Falkland at the back which hasn't been dyed at all. I'll probably spin that first and then dye it. It's going to be blue, but my woad plants won't be ready for a while yet so I may have to use an acid dye.
I very cleverly (or so I thought!) put little labels on each different fleece saying what it was and what it was dyed with. Since these are not clear enough to read, let's start with the white Falkland at the back and work around the edge, clockwise. First is the Falkland, then we have some merino dyed with apricot bark, then British Friesland dyed with nettles (I used an alum mordant for this one), then Friesland dyed with nettles but this time using a copper mordant, then sheeps wool dyed with oak moss lichen (sorry, don't know what this fleece is), then more sheeps wool using a green lichen which looked a bit like kale, and finally, in the middle, merino dyed with mixed lichens.
I was hoping to add some more colours to this pile, i.e. I have some home-grown madder for reds and oranges, plus some black beans which can give blue or grey, but I think I'm running out of time. Maybe this will be enough to keep me occupied and at the same time reduce some of the clutter in my fibre cupboard.
for this year's Tour de Fleece, which starts in 5 DAYS!!!
All of these have been dyed with plants and lichen, apart from the white Falkland at the back which hasn't been dyed at all. I'll probably spin that first and then dye it. It's going to be blue, but my woad plants won't be ready for a while yet so I may have to use an acid dye.
I very cleverly (or so I thought!) put little labels on each different fleece saying what it was and what it was dyed with. Since these are not clear enough to read, let's start with the white Falkland at the back and work around the edge, clockwise. First is the Falkland, then we have some merino dyed with apricot bark, then British Friesland dyed with nettles (I used an alum mordant for this one), then Friesland dyed with nettles but this time using a copper mordant, then sheeps wool dyed with oak moss lichen (sorry, don't know what this fleece is), then more sheeps wool using a green lichen which looked a bit like kale, and finally, in the middle, merino dyed with mixed lichens.
I was hoping to add some more colours to this pile, i.e. I have some home-grown madder for reds and oranges, plus some black beans which can give blue or grey, but I think I'm running out of time. Maybe this will be enough to keep me occupied and at the same time reduce some of the clutter in my fibre cupboard.
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