This week has turned out to be a very busy one. I have two students coming on Wednesday and again on Friday and I suddenly have the opportunity to go to a School art fair, where teachers meet artists with a view to having them as artist in residence. The bore about this is having to get crb checked. Which if anyone is reading from abroad means a police check to see if you have nay criminal record before you can work with children and which takes months. I have been very much in two minds about this as I only teach adults,but the organiser initially not more than politely enthusiastic lit up when I said I was a felter and natural dyer. If some paid work came out of it it would be very good! Especially in the dead months of January and February!
I really want to dye with purple loostrife. The past two years I have used a few flowers but when I read more about it in both Dominque Cardons book and also in Rita Buchanans I found that you wait till the flowers have stopped flowering before using the whole plants. However everything is happening at he moment and the purple Loostrife is looking more "seedy" with yellowing leaves everyday. A frost is forecast for tonight so I think I must cut it down tomorrow at the latest Tomorrow I also need to get some pictures to the framers for an exhibition in Theatr Clwyd in December. This is probably the only day this week I can go and they need at least three weeks for frames. And of course I need to tidy up my studio and get ready for students!

Probably if I just get on and do it it will all happen!

Madder update. having dyed 50g of yarn to a fantastic red I added 100g of merino tops hoping to get more red. Instead I got a standard madder orange. I can't believe that 300g of madder would only dye 50 g of fibres ( or perhaps I can!). I think I ought to think about chopping up the roots as the Redpaths recommend ( former owners of Renaissance Dyers) or try the ground madder again. As well of course as the long soak. Hmmm In the meantime really old and very used old madder chips are now being boiled for hours in a slow cooker to get the brown.. These chips have already been used as a cold bath over three months to give some fabulous terracottas and oranges so it will be interesting to find out what else is there. More fibres are in the bath I got the red from and being heated gently to about 80 degrees C