Dye House News
Wool, wool and wool
Not many wool collections nowadays can boast that the shepherdess and the wool spinner can be seen in the same photograph, but here they are, Sheila the Shepherdess of the Organic Poll Dorset Flock and Carmine from Biella, The Wool Company, caught on camera at the historic moment of the loading of the last bale.
A big THANK YOU to Nigel and Carmine of Biella the Wool Company for taking the time and milage to go and collect the wool. THAT is customer service for you! And of course thanks to Pete for driving the front loader! Last but not least Thank You Sheila, for managing your wonderful flock of Poll Dorsets so organically.... moreJanuary 2011
We wish you all a happy, creative and colourful 2011.
I hope that you have not had too much snow and that if you have you have had enough wool to see you through it! If not you still have time to snatch some of our January offer, which is 20% off the Blue-faced Leicester collection. The discount code is BFL (in upper case).
Our year ahead is looking interesting, the first outing will be ISEND2011 just after Easter. Adriaan and me will be taking a stall and I will be doing a demonstration of surface dyeing of felt with natural dyes. We are very much looking forward to meeting other natural dyers from around the world and the excitement is already mounting. We will be taking our usual wall of colour plus sock and embroidery wool and a few new exciting kits, such as Kate Wallace's Hall of Fire Tam , {p} pictured here, together with our existing kit range.... moreKnitnation Designer : Mary Lena Lynx
For those of you inspired to get out your needlework by the work of the Staircase Stitchers mentioned in the last newsletter, you might like to look further for inspiration and guidance from Mary Corbet, that great ambassadress of fine needlework. Mary writes a daily blog on her site : www.needlenthread.com where she shares her vast experience in all types of embroidery.There you will find over 50 video stitch tutorials, a tips and techniques section - take a look at this church embroidery project , a large selection of free hand embroidery patterns, a section on embroidery books and one on pictures of embroidery from embroidery for children to Whitework.... more
Something Blue
Le Rentrée all over France is a time when the outdoor life is coming to a close and people start to settle back in their houses., children return to school, trailers of wood labour towards barns and the bureaucrats answer their telephones again. That is all of course if they are not on strike!
In the Ariège and all along the Pyrenées it is also the time of the transhumance, when the grazing animals are brought down from the high mountain pastures to their winter homes beside the farms. The village next to ours celebrates this event with a grand fete for the passing shepherds which takes the form of a big meal for them and anyone else who wants an excuse to enjoy themselves at a bountiful table.... moreDesigner: Kate Wallace
First I would like to share with you the latest news from the Staircase Stitchers .. it sounds exciting.. here is what Jane Dew has to say," After five inspiring years, of the Staircase Stitchers', 13 projects are rapidly being completed, two bed hangings are up, one more completed and three on frames! Glorious needlepoint cushion covers, both entirely needlepoint and four with "slips" are ready for making up and the dowry cupboard carpet in petit point is well over half done. It is all truly AMAZING!!... more
Knitnation Designers
It has been a while since the last blog post and much wool has passed through the dye vats since then, with just a month to go to the Knitnation 2010 Expo I thought I had better let you know what was going on in the dye house.
Although our main product is still the embroidery threads, knitting has been occupying Tee and me for quite a while now as we dye and wind the wool for the kits the designers are finalising for Knitnation. Tee is a whirlwind of efficiency as she winds piles of precisely weighed hanks to go in the various kits, many of which have the same colours in them. I am already lost amid the growing complexity and just obediently dye what I am told we need. Lots of Woad!... moreJuliets Natural Dye Garden
Juliet Sargeant , the award winning garden designer has been visiting Renaissance Dyeing with a camera crew from the BBC's Gardener's World.
After visiting my non-award winning garden and looking at the madder and woad plants there, Juliet had a go at naturally dyeing with woad, one of the plants that will be growing in her natural dye garden at the Hampton Court Flower Show.
Producer Richard Holmes and researcher Simon Rice are zooming around the garden exhibitors filming for their special Hampton Court Flower Show edition of Gardener's World which will be broadcast on Friday July 10th... moreSock Yarn Up-date
Our naturally dyed sock collection is gathering pace with the addition of two new colours Linden and Rosé.
You can see our new sock range here.
Both are in the Rêve range, a blend of merino, silk, bamboo and nylon.
The yarn is first wound into 100 gm hanks.
Then it is washed and mordanted with alum. Before it is dry it is shibori tied and then dyed in cochineal. During the dyeing process new ties were added to vary the cochineal colour. On emerging from the dye vat each hank already had its own distinctive colouring.... moreMohair
You can see the results of a bit of tricky natural dyeing on the Bergers Cathares web-site.
Five naturally dyed shades on a wonderfully soft yarn of mohair spun on a silk central thread.
The dyeing proved difficult as the mohair is so fine it felts very easily and had to be heated up from cool temperatures to simmer very slowly and carefully , given lots of room in the dye bath, leading to smaller dye lots and moved with extreme care through all the stages of washing, mordanting, dyeing, over-dyeing and washing again.... moreSummer Sale
Feeling a little like a bit of retail therapy in this unseasonable weather?
Have a look at our sales page.
There are several different shades of our naturally dyed fine lace-weight merino in 125 g hanks, that is approximately 1,490m or 1,692 yards!
Perhaps you have a project in mind for which Nell for instance would be perfect?... moreSock Yarn
In case anyone thought that Renaissance Dyeing was dragging its feet regarding Sock Yarn, tis not so!
You can see our new sock range here.
It is in the pipe line or should I say in the vats.
Here is a sneak preview of the De Nimes shades airing after just coming out of the Indigo vat.
Our Naturally Dyed Sock Collection will feature:... moreNatural Dye Extracts
Our natural dye extract range is soon to be enlarged by three new shades: Mulberry, Cochineal and Valonia Oak. They will be up on the website as soon as they arrive in a day or two. Meanwhile here are a few photographs of my samples and experiments. Please feel free to leave any comments below.
A Selection of silk and wool threads dyed with Mulberry Dye Extract. Underneath is a silk hanky which will be exciting to spin and at the top is a pair of socks that I cold mordanted with alum and then painted with mulberry and cochineal extracts.... moreNews of The Redpaths
Some of you may have noticed that I was away from the dye-house in October. I was in Marlborough, England where I met with David and Margaret Redpath. It was so lovely to see them again and even in a short lunch time meeting there was so much to glean from their vast knowledge of natural dyeing.
After lunch we met with Susan Pearson of the Merchant's House in Marlborough with whom we had come to discuss the natural dyeing of wool for their 12 sixteenth century chairs that are being renovated by a group of volunteer embroiderers.... moreOur New Web-Site
Our new web-site is up and running, we hope that you like it.
To celebrate, we have introduced a few new items for you, all naturally dyed of course!
These include
Please give us feedback on what you find, we would particularly like to know if you would like us to provide more dyes.
The site is not quite finished yet, as we still have to clarify the colour swatches on the Individual Skeins page. Soon I will be adding a Sales Page , which will mainly consist of dye lots which have not quite reached the desired shade for some reason and experiments with different yarns. Also Woad dyed knitting hanks, and Punch-needle Kits are on their way... moreNew Punch Needle Kits
Over the years we have been asked to provide kits made with our naturally dyed crewel wool. One of the designers using our threads for kits is Canadian designer Joni Black of Fully Wooly Primitives. She designs Punch Needle kits that are based on the rugs designed by people. we in Europe, would call earlier American pioneers.
The designs have distinctive motifs, very earth based , such as black crows, sheep, pumpkins and trees; the lines of which are rather soulful and strangely pleasing.... moreWashing for Harrogate
Here in Le Fort, which is the tiny part of our village once occupied by a Roman fort, the shared washing line has been given up for Renaissance Dyeing's naturally dyed wool, wash pegs have been lent and photographs taken.
In a day or two we will wind it into skeins and hanks. Wool, silk, cotton, cashmere, merino, local organic 4-ply; some will be bagged into co-ordinated kits, some will be left loose so that at Harrogate you can order lengths to suit yourselves.
In a few weeks or months it will be all over the world used in embroideries, tapestries, knitting, weaving and all the myriads of creative uses you invent.... moreRain Water
The wonderful news is that it is raining! For the first time since Christmas. Tap, spring and even river water (I've tried them all) in our part of the Pyrénées are very very hard. While some natural dyes positively glow in this, dyes such as brazilwood, logwood and cochineal do not and these we usually dye in rain water. We are running very low in shades produced with these natural dyes, so we are very relieved to see the rain.
As always at this time of year demand is increasing and I have had my fingers crossed for quite a few weeks that I don't have a run on some of the purples or reds.... more