http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/renaissance-dyeing/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Sun, 03 Jul 2011 07:28:04 +0000 http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/latest_news_July2011/ 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... Sun, 03 Jul 2011 07:28:04 +0000 http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/latest_news_July2011/ http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/latest_news_May2011/ The Dye Garden in May A quick look at the dye garden on a dry May day. It hasn't rained here for weeks. The Cosmos and Coreopsis are waiting to be planted out, they are big enough already but with no rain in sight. I don't want to risk losing them. The mass of fluffy foliage in the image below is the two woad plants I left to go to seed when I took the rest out earlier in the spring, the yellow flowers are almost gone and the tear-drop seeds are still this light fresh green that would look spectacular on a skein of wool.. later they will turn to purple, like dragon's tears... Tue, 10 May 2011 18:09:06 +0000 http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/latest_news_May2011/ http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/latest_news_jacques/ 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... Mon, 24 Jan 2011 15:02:05 +0000 http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/latest_news_jacques/ http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/latest-news_woodshed/ 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... Sun, 24 Oct 2010 06:51:24 +0000 http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/latest-news_woodshed/ http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/latest-news_kn3/ 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... Fri, 23 Jul 2010 07:23:33 +0000 http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/latest-news_kn3/ http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/latest-news_kn2/ 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!!.. Thu, 15 Jul 2010 07:07:36 +0000 http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/latest-news_kn2/ http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/latest-news_kn1/ 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!.. Sat, 26 Jun 2010 06:16:10 +0000 http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/latest-news_kn1/ http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/gallery_socks/ Voila! Socks knitted by Polly Van Bremmel using the bluefaced Leicester -Iris, here is what she has to say about the pattern she used and the yarn. The pattern I used as reference is by Cookie A. called "Monkeys." I say referenced, because I made quite a few modifications: toe up (vs. cuff down), no purls (knitted these sts), no yo's (unique left and right leaning increases so pattern "swirls" better, without any yo holes). I knitted them with a size 2.25 mm/100 cm circular (for 2 at a time). Also, when I make socks, I make the gusset increases on the bottom of the foot, so the gusset area looks a liittle different than a standard gusset... Tue, 29 Dec 2009 06:10:48 +0000 http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/gallery_socks/ http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/latest-news_kal/ Renaissance Dyeing is a sponsor for this months Cookie A, Sock Innovation, Knit-a-long (Kal) For the month of December (2009) We will be offering a 10% discount for anyone in the Ravelry, Sock Innovation Group. The prize we are offering for the winner of the Kal is NOT a hank of our naturally plant dyed BFL sock wool but a Natural Dyed Sock Kit. The winner will receive full instructions on how to use it, which is the equivalent of spending a day here in one of my workshops, without the French bit, unfortunately... Wed, 02 Dec 2009 10:16:32 +0000 http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/latest-news_kal/ http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/latest-news_madder-compost/ The sock yarn below was dyed not exactly on a compost heap but in buckets of left over dye stuffs that were left in the sun for a few weeks. It was a continuation of the use of the home-grown madder written about in the previous article Madder and Madder. The madder in question had already been used to dye over one and a half times it weight, however because the madder was quite coursely chopped I could see both from the wool dyed and the madder that was left over that the red pigments had not yet been fully released from the roots... Thu, 26 Nov 2009 05:50:01 +0000 http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/latest-news_madder-compost/ http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/latest-news_madder/ Lots of you have asked how I would process the madder harvested last year. Well, it has dried very well, hanging in my neighbours' barn and was only brought inside just as the cyclone arrived last January. I wasn't going to risk my madder being blown away! It had dried so well that it was possible to snap it into smaller pieces, but not small enough. I have saved this home grown madder for this Autumn's sock collection not only because I have heard that madder needs to mature for a year but also I thought that Jan Kees deserves a pair of madder dyed handed knitted socks after all the hard digging and washing he did last year... Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:28:19 +0000 http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/latest-news_madder/ http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/latest-news_cochineal/ The Exhausting Pursuit of Pale Pink Exhaust is the name given in dyeing to the leftover dye baths. So once you have dyed a batch of wool what you have left over in the vat is called first exhaust. Once you have dyed something in this you have the 2nd exhaust left. With this in mind I set out to dye pale pink! I needed quite a lot of dark crimson pink Cherry Coloured Twist sock weight yarn for the new pattern by Ysolda Teague being launched in the next issue of Twist Collective , so I started with a strong cochineal dye bath. As I need a lot of the dark pink I wanted my first exhaust to be as dark as the original dye bath... Tue, 27 Oct 2009 05:53:20 +0000 http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/latest-news_cochineal/ http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/latest-news_purses/ Vivi alias Suis Le Fil of the Champagne region of France has been very busy over the summer combining her love of all things medieval and her knitting skills. The Medieval drawstring bags below have been created using Renaissance Dyeing Sock-weight 4-ply wool. Fortunately we don't have to attend the French Madieval Faires to buy one as Vivi also has an Etsy Shop. You can also view her blog and follow the stories behind her creations... Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:22:10 +0000 http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/latest-news_purses/ http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/latest_news_fordgreen/ The Threaders of Ford Green Hall are a small group of dedicated and enthusiastic embroiderers who meet every Monday at Ford Green Hall, Stoke-on-Trent. They spend many busy hours embroidering replica bed hangings, door hangings, pillows, bed spreads and more to be displayed in this charming 17th century farmhouse. {p} The project leader is Pauline Mountain, she explains how the long curtain took six years to finish, starting with eight people around the big frame but falling to five due to three of the older members dying. The original design is in the V & A and is shown on the cover of one of their books on design... Mon, 31 Aug 2009 06:41:49 +0000 http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/latest_news_fordgreen/ http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/latest-news_onions/ The humble onion skin can be very versitile when it comes to natural dyeing, producing with a good alum mordant and modifiers a wide range of yellows, oranges and browns. Living in France, it is easy to collect onion skins with the help of my neighbours, I have a good supply of organic onion skins to keep me going all year round. I just keep them in a paper sack in a dry place until needed. I have heard it said that if the onion skins are kept too long they don't dye so well, but I haven't noticed that much even when using old onion skins... Thu, 27 Aug 2009 08:46:25 +0000 http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/latest-news_onions/ http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/latest-news_bag/ Here is a little project using just two natural dye extracts: Logwood and Persian Berries and the 100g of Australian pre-mordanted merino wool, from the Felters and Spinners Kit . Purple and yellow are complimentary colours so you can't go much wrong really and the different tones and shades naturally produced by natural dyes bring variety and originality. The bag was first felted and washed, a little local mica and silk gauze were incorporated into the felt to give texture. The bag was then printed with a pattern using the two dyes mixed with a little gum tragacanth. At the same time the remaining pre-mordanted tops and a little silk thread were painted with different variations of the two dyes and all were fixed by steaming. The tops were spun into embroidery thread and plyed to give strength and many different variations of shade. Some was Navajo plyed which later lead to interesting stitch form and texture... Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:48:44 +0000 http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/latest-news_bag/ http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/latest-news_sale-yarn/ After a couple of long dyeing sessions there are always the inevitable shades that don't match up to the colours on the range. Sometimes these can be re-dyed but often the colours are so nice it seems a pity not to offer them to you at a reduced price. There are now a few new shades up on the sales page, some of which are a result of the reaction between the ph of the local water and the logwood dye. Logwood has a very narrow ph window in which it gives a good blue purple, shift the ph too far one way and the blue disappears. Shift it even further and all the dye spectrum disappears! I've learned not to do that but it was fun experimenting. The Aubergine shade below is just a little too red... Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:21:10 +0000 http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/latest-news_sale-yarn/ http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/latest-news_juliets-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.. Fri, 26 Jun 2009 10:34:28 +0000 http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/latest-news_juliets-garden/ http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/latest-news_sock-yarn_extract-workshop/ Yet another Natural Dye Extract Workshop has been and gone, with a whirl of colour and deluge of enthusiasm. One of the first things we explored was colour modification that resulted in 27 colours emerging from one dye vat, the image below shows the nine shades of alum mordanted yarn with persian berries extract. The immersion dyeing with the natural dye extracts created several rainbows of color a few of which can be seen on the knitted, woven and felted samples below. These silk tops dyed by an up and coming designer were dyed with logwood extract and techniques learned earlier on the colour modification day... Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:55:58 +0000 http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/latest-news_sock-yarn_extract-workshop/ http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/latest_news_feuille/ A perfect pleasure to view in many ways. Feuille's blog is a delight to browse, its wonderful colours and forms are so pleasant to behold. Thank you Feuille for sharing this with us.. Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:17:42 +0000 http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/latest_news_feuille/