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

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

Coming Attractions and New Spring Listings

With inventory done and taxes almost complete, we are in the process of sourcing new items for  this year.

We will be sourcing new book titles, silk and wool yarns, hopefully some linen yarn, and what ever unique treasures we run across in our travels.

We will also be starting the dye pots as soon as weather permits, to dye our line of natural dyed wool roving and multicolor merino roving.

Check back from time to time to discover our new offerings.

We also have a wide variety of herbs and spices, yet to be listed on our website.

If you need an item,that you may have seen at our booth at a show, but is not available on our website, please contact us.

We may have it in stock or be able to source it for you.

Although being in stock for quite sometime on our show shelves, we have just added the following items to our website in the tea sections.

Spiced Apple Chai

Earl Grey Tea

Oolong Tea

Pan Fired Green Tea

Autumn Sunset Herbal Tea

Lemon Ginger Herbal Tea

Rooibos Herbal Tea

Green Rooibos Bonita Herbal Tea

Honeybush Herbal Tea

Honeybush Chocolate Herbal Tea

© 2015 Brush Creek Wool Works

Fussing with Fustic

Fustic Natural Dye, Chlorophora tinctoria, or Maclura tinctoria, known also as Old Fustic, is extracted from the heartwood of a tropical tree native to the Americas.

 It is related to the mulberry tree and sometimes called Dyer's Mulberry.
It yields is a very vibrant yellow dye, which has been used throughout history for textile dyeing.

Fustic Chips with Fustic Dyed Wool Yarn

It is not to be confused with Young or New Fustic, 
Rhus cotinus,  smoke tree or smoke bush, which is a European and Asian shrub that is relate to the cashew tree. 

New Fustic produces a lighter and less color fast dye and is grown as an ornamental shrub. 

It is also commonly called Venetian Fustic or sumac.

There are many dye plants that yield what is commonly known in natural dye circles as "weed yellows."

However, Fustic is one yellow dye that will not disappoint.

Fustic is a good dye for over dyeing, especially using Indigo, with the resulting color a good fast green, which is a color that is hard to obtain. 

It also gives good butter yellows to gold, depending  on the mordant that is used. 

Fustic Dyed Wool Yarn, Mordants left to right: Alum, Tin, Iron

Fustic Chips are available from our website, as are  other natural dyes and mordants for natural dyeing.

Fustic Chips

Also, depending on the time of year, we offer
 wool yarns dyed with Fustic, and dyed wool rovings .
At times, we also offer wool roving that have been mordanted  to enable you to natural dye your own rovings.

Natural dyes can also be used on silk and other animal fibers.

However, when used on plant fiber such as cotton, hemp, or flax, will yield more pastel colors.

                                        © 2015 Brush Creek Wool Works

Red Sandalwood Tastefully Beautiful

Red Sandalwood Powder with Dyed Yarn Samples

The common names for Red Sandalwood are Red Sanders, Red Sandalwood, Sanders, Saunders, and Saunderswood.

Sandalwoods are medium sized trees, that are of the same botanical family as European mistletoe, and like mistletoe, form a hemiparasitic relationship with other trees or plants. 

Pterocarpus santalinus, is  a species from southern India, which was originally used as a dye material and also a spice in many Medieval Europe and South Asian recipes..

This tree is valued for the rich red color of its wood.

The wood is not the aromatic Yellow Sandalwood,  Santalum album, that is also native to South India.

The above two species are considered threatened or endangered.

Today we use the species Pterocarpus soyauxii for fabric and fiber dye, food dye, as a spice, and some Ayurvedic medicinal uses.

The dye in Red Sandalwood is not water soluble, i.e., it will not dissolve in water.

To extract the dye, one must soak the powder or fine chips in rubbing alcohol .

This liquid is then added to a water dye bath, being cautious as the alcohol is flammable.

Wool Yarn Dyed with Red Sandalwood

As with all natural dyes, colors will be effected by the mordant used to make the dye colorfast.
The above wool yarn was dyed with Red Sandalwood and the mordants used are from top to bottom:
Alum, Tin, and Chrome 

Food grade Red Sandalwood  and also Red Sandalwood  natural dye  is available on our website along with other spices and natural dyes and mordants.

                                   © 2015 Brush Creek Wool Works

Welcoming the New Year

As with any business, January is full of duties required to comply with taxes, such as doing inventory and completing bookkeeping for the previous year.

After all of that boring work, it's time to get busy and start to source new items for the coming year, developing new handmade  products, restock on regular items, and trying to photograph and list items on our website.

We have quite a few new  loose teas to list along with the remainder of our full in stock list of spices.
In addition to the loose teas already listed on our website, below is a list of loose teas and their current prices, that are not on our website to date, but are available for purchase.
If you wish any of them or more  information, before they are listed on our website, please contact us.

Spiced Apple Chai   2 oz.   $ 3.50

Earl Grey Tea 2 oz.    $ 3.50

Oolong  Tea 2 oz.  $ 2.75

Pan Fired Green Tea   2 oz.   $ 2.50

Autumn Sunset Herbal Tea    1.5 oz.  $ 2.50

Lemon Ginger Herbal Tea 2 oz. $ 2.75

Rooibus Herbal Tea   2 oz. $ 2.50

Green Rooibus Bonita Herbal Tea   2 oz.  $ 2.50

Honeybush Herbal Tea  2 oz.   $ 3.25

Honeybush Chocolate Tea 2 oz.  $ 3.50

Thai Iced Tea    4 oz.  $ 2.50

Wishing all of you a Happy and Blessed 

New Year

                                     © 2014 Brush Creek Wool Works

Winter Drinks and Dye Projects

While we are all getting ready for the Holidays and doing some winter projects, try something new to drink.
We have just listed a new and unusual tea called Pu erh, two White Teas, along with a new variety of Yerba Mate for your enjoyment.

Pu erh Tea is a fermented tea that, like wine, improves with age.
Some Pu erh Teas have an earthy flavor, which varies by type and age.
Our new Hazelberry Pu erh Tea has a combination of hazelnut, strawberry, chocolate, and cream flavors that meshes perfectly with the earthy undertones of a Pu erh Tea.
The smell is a heavenly addition to the taste.

Hazelberry Pu erh Tea

 If you have never have had a White Tea, maybe it's time to try.
White tea have a white appearance from the tea leaf buds and top end leaves.
It yields a light color delicate tasting tea.
We have added two varieties of this type of tea, White Cucumber and White Pear.

White Cucumber Tea

White Pear Tea

Yerba Mate is a South American drink that is similar to a tea and contains caffeine.
 It is brewed in a traditional mate gourd.
The gourd is passed from person to person during group gathering and sipped through a straw called a bombilla, which has a strainer on the bottom to filter out the leaves.
You can enjoy this beverage by brewing it like a regular tea, or the traditional way.
Our new Yerba Mate is Mocha Nut Mate, a blend of hazelnut, chocolate, and roasted Yerba Mate.
We also offer  green plain Yerba Mate.

Mocha Nut Mate

We have also just added all 40 colors of Jacquard Procion MX Dyes for Cotton, Linen, and other Plant Fibers and Fabrics.
These can be used for solid color dyeing or tie dyeing.
Simple to use, these dyes use warm tap water, table salt, and washing soda to set the dye.

Procion MX Dye Turquoise 068

Procion MX Dye Color Chart

                                                © 2014 Brush Creek Wool Works

The Dye That Named a Country

When the Portuguese explorers came to the Americas for gold and spices, they never thought they would also find a dye material that would eventually become the name of a South American country.
The area of the New World was originally named  Island of the True Cross.
But later, around 1510, a Lisbon merchant began commercial harvesting of a local tree that produced a red and pink dye.
The region then became referred to by the name of the commercial product, which was a common habit of the time.
Thus the country name of Brazil was born, from the dyestuff called brazilwood, which became an important and highly valued dye in Europe.

Brazilwood Chips, Caesalpinia sappan

Because of the demand, Brazilwood, Caesalpinia echinata, or Pernambucco tree became over harvested not only because of it's imporance as a dye, but also because of it's use in violin making.
It is now listed as an endangered plant of Brazil

In the 1700's, another species of the tree , Caesalpinia sappan, found in Asia, began to replace the brazilwood from South America. 
Also know as sappenwood, this is the brazilwood natural dye that we use today.

Both varieties of brazilwood were used for inks and colors used in the  European Medieval illuminated manuscripts.

Wool Yarn , Mordants Left to Right: Alum, Tin, Chrome, Iron

 Brazilwood produces beautiful reds and pinks on wool, linen , and cottons, depending on the mordant used, water PH, and strength of the dye. 
Use of a mordant is required, but even then the dye can fade with exposure to sunlight.
However, one will not be disappointed in adding this dye to your palate of natural dyes.

Brazilwood Sawdust with Dyed Wool Yarn

Brazilwood, along with other dyes and mordants, are available from our website.

                                               © 2014 Brush Creek Wool Works

Where Are We?

As some of your may know , we started our business doing shows and events in 1983.

 In 2009, we set up our first internet shop through Etsy, and started cutting back a bit on our show schedule.
We felt that we were being pulled in too many directions and needed to focus on just shows and events and the internet, letting our brick and mortar shop close.
We also have had internet shops on Artfire, and Zibbet over the past few years.
Although setting up on these sites was an educational experience , we also found out that the sites were creeping into controlling our business. and limiting what we could list.

Currently, our  Artfire shops are closed completely, Zibbet has 10 items, and Etsy has one item, which will soon expire.
We have left links at those sites that will redirect you to our website.


In the Fall of 2012, we were given the opportunity to take advantage of a new web hosting site called Supadupa, which is located in the UK..
Funny, name, but they gave us the ability to set up a beautiful customized website where we could offer all of our products that customers normally see at our shows.
They are constantly adding new features, have great customer service, a toll free help line for U.S. shops, and they  keep their hands out of our business management.
Consequently, we have removed our items from our other websites and relocated them on our Supadupa site.
We are slowly trying to get everything listed there, but of you need an item that you have seen at a show or event, and it isn't listed, please contact us.

If you wish to visit our website  you can click at the link at the top of the page under our logo, on any of the blue "website" kinks in this post, or simply scroll down under this post.
Our website is embedded here on the blog.
There is a also a scroll within the embedded website.

Also, if you happen to want to check out Supadupa for a website of your own, we have a link that can give you 20% off of your first 4 months of service.
Supadupa has different plans for different needs.
You need to sign up for a Free Shop, through this link:

http://mbsy.co/68TqQ

or the same link on the right side of our blog, click on the Supadupa name there, and then upgrade to a higher plan, to receive the discount.
This is not a pyramid scheme, just a way to pass along a discount to a good service.

 So, you can find us at any of our standard shows or at our website.

Thank you for visiting,
Brush Creek Wool Works

                                                 © 2014 Brush Creek Wool Works

The Fall Fiber Festival, Montpelier, Va., Our Regrets

Brush Creek Wool Works booth at the Fall Fiber Festival

We would like to take the time to send our regrets to any of our customers who may show up at the Fall Fiber Festival and Sheep Dog Trials  at Montpelier, Va., this weekend.

We were unable to make it to the event because of a vehicle breakdown.

If you wish to purchase items from us, you can visit our website , or scroll to the bottom of this blog page, our website is embedded there.

If you want an item that may not be listed on our website, please contact us, as we may have it in stock due to planning for the Festival.
What you want just might not be listed on the website because it was earmarked for the Festival.

For 31 years, we have been merchanting at events, and this is the first time we have not made it to a booked event.
We have broken down on the way to some, broken down while there, and broken down on the way home.
But in the past, we have always been able to salvage the situation to get to the event and be open for business.

We even were at the FFF during the infamous mud out, and stayed.

Plus we had a flat tire last year on the way home while trying to beat the high winds that flipped tractor trailers on Rt 81 North. 

But it finally happened, and we won't be able to see you this year.

Thank you all for your patronage in past 20  years.
We hope you all have fun at the Festival.

Sincerely,

Brush Creek Wool Works 

                                                  © 2014 Brush Creek Wool Works

Raising the Roof

Many of you may have seen us at shows over the years.
This year at the Pennsic War, we took a series of pictures to show what goes on behind the scenes in getting all of those items to the site and set up for you to enjoy.

First we have to load the truck, van, and travel trailer, and drive it to the camping site, park it, hook up the utilities, and get ready to put up the booth.
Yes, we stay in a travel trailer because we are at the booth 12 hours working and need a nice place to rest up for the next day.
Our truck hood is up, because the battery went dead.
We found out a few days later that the alternator was bad and replaced it at an Auto Zone parking lot.

The rest of the pictures are of a series of pictures we took while raising the roof on our Medieval 20 foot by 20 foot pavilion in the Merchant Area of Pennsic.

First the plastic goes down.

Then the indoor outdoor carpeting is put on top of the plastic.

The roof is spread out and the first corner put up.

The second roof corner is put up.

All four roof top corners are up

The center pole is put up on the roof.

The side poles and ropes are put up.

All of the side poles and ropes are put up and the roof is stretched.

Now it's time to add the sides and unload some display racks and the merchandise.

All set up and closed for the night

Open for business !


                                       © 2014 Brush Creek Wool Works