Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Weld Holds It All Together


Wool Yarn Dyed With Natural Dyes

Moving along in our series of articles on Natural Dyes, and into the yellows, Weld , Reseda luteola, is one of the most historically important of the yellow natural dyes.

Wool Yarn Dyed with Weld, Mordant: Tin
  Also know as dyer's rocket, dyer's weed, and yellow weed, Weld is a native of Eurasia.
It was in use as a dye by the first century B.C. and was introduced to North America by the Colonists.
It not only produces a beautiful butter yellow colors, but was also  in over dyeing with indigo or woad to produce a color fast green. Because good greens are hard to produce using natural dyes, Weld became one of the most important dyes in the production of this color.

Grown from seeds, the thin long leaves grow from a rosette and the plant produces a spike for it's flower.
Even though it is considered an annual, but by accident, we were able to keep our Weld plants surviving the winter by planting them next to our clothes dryer vent.
They died off after the frost in the fall, but emerged from the roots the next spring.
These plants have lasted 3 summers and produced good dye material.
 
Weld Plants

  The whole plant above the ground is used as a dye. 
It can be used fresh or dried. 
Simply tie a plant bundle with string and boil it in water to extract the dye. 
If you are using chopped plant material, fashion a cloth tea bag , place the chopped material in the bag, tie tightly, and boil in water to extract the dye.

Dried Chopped Weld
 As with all natural dyes, the color will depend on the strength of the dye bath, the ph of the water, and the mordant that is used. 


Wool Yarn Dyed with Weld,  Mordants Left to Right: Alum, Tin, Iron



Dried Chopped Weld is available on our website, along with other natural dyes, mordants, and wool yarn dyed with natural dyes.
When available, we also may have wool roving dyed with natural dyes and natural dye plant seeds.



                                                                                    © 2015 Brush Creek Wool Works



Wednesday, May 27, 2015

On the Road Again, and Back Home



Main Building Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival

Brush Creek Wool Works at the MS&WF

We finally are done unpacking from having a booth at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.
 A big thanks to all  of the people who volunteer to produce that event.
 It was  fabulous this year, and if they have us back, next year will be our 30th year at the festival.

Before the festival, we always look to add new items.
We have listed a few of those new items and will be adding more to our website.

For the Spinners we have added a Diz to accompany our 
Viking Wool Combs 

Wool Diz

Viking Wool Combs

We also have some new Multicolor Merino Wool Rovings

Cranberry
Rose Quartz

Fiesta
Sandalwood
Bermuda
Amethyst
We will keep you informed of any additional new items as we add them.
For those who visited us at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, thank you for stopping in to see us.

©  2015 Brush Creek Wool Works