Fine Stoles in natural dyes

Sunday 15th
When I was at the Real Colour Show at Llanidloes in mid Wales a local shop l'Amoire, bought all my fine stoles of which I had three, a fine felt collar and a fine felt scarf.,This means I have now sold all I have made which is enormously satisfying. So now I am starting to make some more! These are being made using 17.5 micron Merino that one of my students at Lincoln Summer School told me about-and which I got from Adelaide Walker in Yorkshire. Thanks to Bettina of Woolly Bits I have also bought a kilo of 16 micron merino from Germany. These are all Merino's from South Africa and so not from sheep which have been muled. Yesterday I dyed my first 100g of this -worried that being so fine it might felt-but it seems to be okay. Today however I am going to make a stole in terracotta using cashmere and silk as the first layer and 17.5 micron merino on the top. I dyed the cashmere and silk yesterday using madder, cutch, osage orange, and cochineal extracts of natural dyes. This is now hanging from a chair in front of a wood burner drying out. It is a still a little damp.The 17.5 micron merino I dyed some while ago as I have a commission to make a stole in terracotta. The 16 micron will have to wait-it is drying and I don't want to hurry it and perhaps felt it!
Thursday 19th
The fine merino stole is still sitting wet and damp on my table waiting to be further felted. It won't come to harm like this but I had to put it on hold as I had a commission to dye fine merino and silks. A welcome bit on money in a quiet month. Yesterday I decided to try spinning again with Abergele Guild of Weavers Spinners and Dyers which meets at a lovely village in Llanfair TH on a wednesday afternoon. However we have had a lot of rain and as I drove and saw the flooded fields Ihad mny doubts about my wisdom in going. If you click on the link you will see what met my eyes as I came down the long hill into the village.
This is the 16micron dyed and ready to be felted

A Busy August- Fine Felt Stoles

Jackie Jo and Dianne wearing their stoles on Gala night
Sally and Barbara wearing their stoles on Gala Night

I can't believe how long it has been since I blogged!

Since the last post I have taught at the Association of Weavers Spinners and Dyers Summers School at Lincoln. This was a fantastic experience. The students on the course started with 18.5 micron white merino, silk fibres and fabrics and dyed them with extracts of natural dyes in the first day and half,then started exploring how to make fine felt, a half day learning in different ways to make felt and fabric brooches. Then started making a fine stole- a formidable undertaking that took them twelve hours of very hard work. Felting with two fine layers of this fine merino sandwiched between two fine pieces of plastic sheeting to start with is an amazing experience as the fibres transform from two layers of wool to a piece of fabric with a fine fold and drape. The students worked hard starting on the felting days at 8am and some went onto to 10pm.

What has been such an exciting experience for me was that as all the students knew about natural dyeing and had in all cases done some felting and in most cases done a lot it turned into a master class and that was a quite fantastic experience for me to teach especially so as all had good design skills too and colour sense so you will not be surprised to hear that the resulting stoles were quite outstanding. as indeed you can see- we all wore them on the last gala night
Classroom



Classroom from the other end
Fibres dyed with extract dyes hanging up to dry
The first of two layers being put down



Two layers ready tobe wetted out.




On the last day students put up an exhibition of their work samples and finished pieces
EvelynGillAnthea
Jill

Dianne
Barb
Amanda
Ann
Ineke
Jo
Carole
Myra
All of the students.
Welcme to the new followers-how I wish some of would stop by and say hello.