Edible Acre Natural Dying

I have been on a course at Edible Acre which is a local market garden here in Dorset

It was a wonderful learning experience for me as i use a lot of staining in my work using Turmeric, Tea and Coffee and I wanted to be able to create a lot more shades of colour so they can match better with the bears. If the colour and texture are right then the patches blend in so much better.

Dyeing using plants has been done for a long time all over the world, chemical dyes did not come about until 1856. Here in Britain we have a rich history of creating some fabulous shades of colour from our plants and trees.

On the day we dyed wool and we used Madda root, Onion skins and Weld we then used an Aluminum Mordant which bonds the dye to the wool so it will hold the colour even with washing. The dyes simmered for a good hour to release lots of their colour we then added our wool and it dyed very quickly you can then go on now to use the weaker solution called the ‘exhaust‘ to dye again and get the lighter shades.

We went on to add some Modifiers using Vinegar, Copper and Iron this gave us an instant change to our colours, in my samples you can see the different shades this created So inspired and grateful to be able to learn in such a beautiful place, and now I am very excited to incorporate this old art into my work with teddy bears.