An Introduction to Natural Dye with Vera Hoenen of The Little Spiral
Vera has been working with fibre for nearly 20 years. A few year ago, her hobby got kicked up a notch when she inherited a flock of heritage breed sheep together with a few friends. She now shares the sheep whilst they graze on a fabulous organic farm. Since then, she has used her craft to introduce other people to this amazing fibre through spinning, weaving, felting or natural dyeing workshops as well as occasionally selling items that she makes on her website.
Vera at Home
Vera will be demonstrating at our Farm Open Day - Blade Shearing Tournament & Fleece Sale on Saturday 18th September.
Choosing to explore the fibre through trial, error, making and experience, Vera took the self-taught approach to dyeing fibres by hand.
“I started playing around with natural dyes some years ago, foolishly relying on some blog posts only to be sorely disappointed with the results. Beetroot is not a dye, nor are so many other kitchen ingredients. I invested in some books, learned the proper way to dye and now much prefer these for my fibres and textiles.” - Vera
Using some good books and her hands, she picked up the skills needed when they are required.
Vera’s Brief Guide To Getting Started With Natural Dyes
All wool needs scouring, scouring is the process of removing lanolin, dirt and anything else that may be on the fibre. Even if it looks clean, some wool for weaving will have "sizing" for instance and this stops dye take up.
“I use Orvus paste, a little goes a very long way! Keep it at around 70c for an hour. Remove it from the pan whilst hot and place it in a sieve to completely drain and cool. Once cool rinse it with water as close to the temperature of the fibre is now. Too much temperature difference or too much agitation and you increase the likelihood of the fibre felting!”
Most dyes require that the fibres are mordanted before hand. For wool, use alum (potassium aluminium sulfate). Dissolve the desired amount in water in a pot and add the wool, warming it to 70c and then put the lid on and leave it over night. In the morning take it out and rinse it gently but thoroughly to ensure no loose alum is left behind.
The dye material goes in another pot, cover it with water and warm it. Boiling isn't necessary and for many dyes it is even detrimental. Vera keeps hers at around 70c for the majority of plants.
“I'm using goldenrod here, it grows abundantly where I live. Many plants will give colour and some are more stable than others so it's worth experimenting. Yellow is by far the easiest colour to achieve.
After an hour turn off the heat, let it cool enough so you are comfortable handling it and strain the plant material out with an old towel or muslin. Rinse the pot to ensure no plant material is left behind and pour the dye liquid back into it.”
Natural dyes for wool have been used for hundreds of years. Harvesting plants and extracting the color from the leaves, berries, and flowers is an enjoyable way to gather colour today, too. You can use herbs and fruits that produce intense dye baths. Many weeds grow along roadways were historically gathered as plant dye sources. Once you start down this path, you will look at every plant in a new way.
“Pineapple weed for some dyeing going on this weekend. I have a skein of handspun ready to go when I get back so I hope I have guessed the weight in my bucket enough to get the saturation I'm hoping for.” - Vera
