Because I am a bit of a butterfly never keeping my mind on one thing for long. I have taken a bit of a side ways step with my business and started to produce hand dyed silk scarfs. It is still natural dyes on natural fibers. This is the core of my work and I will stick to it as much as possible. But if I can create something wonderful using other materials I will. Nothing is written in stone, and I won't be hide bound by rules. The end result is the important thing for me.
The scarfs are brought in and I dye them in the Shibori style with indigo. The indigo vat can be tricky to start with but once you have mastered it the results are fabulous. It would take to long to describe here but if you are interested these books have been a great help to me.
Wild Colour by Jenny Dean, if you are interested in natural dyeing Jenny Dean is must. Any one of her books are full of the best advice and information you could want.
A Handbook of Indigo Dyeing by Vivien Prideaux.
Shibori by Mandy Southan.
There are many more but these three have been the ones I use the most at the moment
I will be a bit more precise about the methods I use in future posts.
One of the skeins I have for sale on Etsy at the moment is a Jacob mix dyed red and blue. Just to remind you Jacobs are a breed of sheep that are very popular with small holders because they are medium sized ,easy to keep, hardy and friendly. The fleece is good for hand spinners because it is easy to spin and coming in a mix of brown and white, it is easy to knit up to very effective patterns. The down side is that it is some times a bit course especially if the fleece is from and older ewe.
