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fibreworkshop

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My first finished woven piece. A floor rug for the workshop. I've been filling time waiting for the imminent arrival of Norfolk horn yarn with some weaving.

The yarn is handspun from raw zwartbles fleece. A beautiful dark black and brown fleece. Its from a lovely person called Wendy. She keeps a tiny pet flock and really wanted her fleeces to be put to use somehow.
I span a chunky single straight from the fleece laid on the floor about my feet. Not fussing over order just reaching down and pulling up a hunk. I've never spun raw. I loved it but will say i have a high tolerance for dirt. Its not for the squeamish. But once the yarn was given a good couple of dunks it was soft and clean.
The warp is linen.

I really enjoy seeing how things get better with practise when people start out to learn new skills. Although we often put ourselves down as its never perfect first time ( or second or even third). And its all to easy to not try something for fear of failure or doing it wrong or badly. Its not until we can see the progress that we can appreciate how far we've come.

The first section was so gappy and the edges wave in and out a bit but as time went on the edges began to straighten and the weave tighten. I love it and will enjoy seeing the wobbliness every time I go through the workshop door😀

#fibreworkshop
#weaversofinstagram
#weaving
#handspun
#zwartbles
#britishwool
#makersgotomake
#fillingtime
#wool
#makinggooduseofthefleece
#selfsufficiency
#selfreliance

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Basket case.

Been learning useful new skills whilst I've been waiting for the arrival of this years Norfolk Horn yarn. One of these skills on my list has been basket making. I made this yesterday at a workshop with Julie King of The English Willow Basket . its a bit wonky but I love it. Its going to be coming out and about with me on my foraging trips.
#fibreworkshop
#basketweaving
#sustainableliving
#selfsufficiency
#selfreliance

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Happy hands at work making good use of the fleeces we find.

Had a very wet and messy time yesterday running a 'vegetarian' no death felted fleece workshop @pottersfarmwighton.

Ali did us proud with some awesome hosting, cakes and coffee aplenty. The barn was the perfect venue. We are going to be working up a whole programme of sheep n fleece focused events for next year. Will keep you posted😀

#fibreworkshop
#wetfeltedfleece
#thingstomakefromfleece
#wetfelting
#nosuchthingaswaste
#passtheknowledgeon

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This is a Jacquard loom in work at the Bridewell Museum of Norwich.
My shonky camera work means you can't actually see the jacquard castle attachment that sits atop the main loom. The intricate surface patterns of the weave are programmed into the punch cards on the right. Every weft row corresponding to a row of punch cards. With each treadle the punch cards rotate and the mass of threads shift up and down moving the shafts below. It makes me ponder on the strange fusion of the mediaeval simple accessible technology of cheap wood and string and the future in what surely must be the foundations of computing.

And the noise! The whole building shakes with every stomp.

PS I'm not a weaver so forgive the lack of jargon :-) #fibreworkshop
#bridewellmuseum
#museumofnorwich
#textilehistory
#weaversofinstagram
#jaquardweaving
#sticksandstring
#strangers
#canaries

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3 fat skeins spun during Britspin 2019.

I surprised myself by managing a total of 3630 britspin metres. I'm not so good at the competitive malarkey but this suits me just fine as the only competition is really to challenge yourself in whatever way you like.

Just have to find the time to work my way through the rest of the fibre now... #fibreworkshop
#britspin
#britspin2019
#spinnersofig
#handspunyarn
#handspun
#spinnersofinstagram
#britishwool
#spinlikethewind

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Some results from Saturdays natural dye workshop.

Had a very fun day teaching the basics of plant based dyeing.
Got some lovely results. Madder got stroppy, gave a fantastic cherry red but failed to deliver the pinks and purples. Hey ho. Really looking forward to putting together next years programme.

#fibreworkshop
#plantbaseddyes
#naturaldyersofinstagram
#naturaldye
#passtheknowledgeon
#workshop
#naturalcolour

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Britspin 2019
The British spinning marathon begins

My basket of fluff all prepped and ready for the big spinoff which starts 9pm tonight and runs till Sunday.
Its looking surprisingly sedate and autumnal ... I have plans for that white braid... Thinking a dye job to make your eyes bleed is needed 😀

#fibreworkshop
#britspin
#britspin2019
#spinbritish
#britishwool
#spinnersofig
#handspunyarn
#fibreeastfloozies

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The workshop is at ickworth Wood fair today. Last fair of the year and its not raining...yay...come say hello if you are here😀

#fibreworkshop
#ickworthhouse
#ickworthwoodfair
#ickworthhousenationaltrust

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Finished at last! The Norfolk horn blanket.
This is the culmination of 2years work connecting the Norfolk Horn to its landscape.

For the last 18 months or so I've been curious about the colour hidden in this landscape, Breckland. Wondering what did life look like for the people who worked with the fleece producing their own textiles. My romantic pastoral subjectivity aside, I assume rural life was self reliant where much of what you needed was grown, gathered or bartered locally and made at home. Including the textiles of everyday life.

There has been lots of ferreting about on my walks collecting plants that grow hereabouts. Soaking, chopping, stewing and brewing up dye baths. Dying the Norfolk fleece with them and then spinning the yarns. I've also cheated a bit. As i also included plants that have strong traditions hereabouts and would have been grown or readily available, including woad and madder.

What surprised me is just how bright and colourful it is. I think that life must have been far more colourful than we imagine if my tentative amateurish results are anything to go by. Much more so than today.

And in case you are wondering, the background dark yarn is also Norfolk Horn. It was spun from 2 lambs fleeces, they were sheared before their coats grew through white. Silky soft and buttery warm. This will keep me toasty into my dotage... #fibreworkshop
#plantbaseddye
#botanicaldyes
#dyersofinstagram
#spinnersofinstagram
#norfolkhorn
#Madeinnorfolk
#historicaldyeing
#wildcolour
#unitedcoloursofbreckland
#breckland
#brecks
#woolhistory

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This is what i do with the fleeces that don't get to be spun. I make no death felted 'sheepskins' So soft and squishy and beautiful.

If you are interested in spending a few hours with me learning how to do it then read on below for details of a workshop hosted by my good friend Ali.... @pottersfarmwighton
• • • • • •
Vegetarian felted Sheepskin Rug Workshop. Learn how to wet felt your own small felted rug from Norfolk grazed sheep’s fleece. Perfect for adding style, warmth and comfort to a chair or a small floor rug for you or a handmade gift for a friend. Saturday 26th Oct, morning or after sessions available please pm me to book. Price £40 pp which includes all materials and tea and coffee refreshments.
#fibreworkshop
#sheepfleece #craft #smallbusiness #northnorfolk #wellsnextthesealife #craftworkshops #craftworkshop #smallholder #norfolksmallholding #norfolksmallbusiness #wellness #wellbeing #makingfriends

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Oxburgh Hall Apple Day today.

I've taken the workshop and the Norfolk Horn yarn out to its ancestral heartland today. We are deep in the Brecks at Oxburgh Hall. Oxburgh Hall is one of the prettiest homes in Norfolk, with some fabulous tapestries and textiles.
Come along and learn about apples, identify your tree and squeeze some juice in the lovely sunshine.

#fibreworkshop
#brecks
#oxburghhall
#makeciderwhilethesunshines
#apples
#norfolkhorn

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Getting excited...I will be running a natural dye workshop on Saturday 12th October at Elsing Village Hall, Norfolk.

This workshop is aimed at the beginner. We will be learning how to prepare different materials including wool, silk and linen/cotton. We will take a walk through the hedgerows and woods learning about different useful dye plants. We will then be using our wild harvest to prepare some dye pots and experimenting with after dye treatments to alter the colours. Along with a whole lot of things i will have prepared earlier for you to try😀

Spaces are limited and there are just a few places left.

Direct message me if you would like to know more or to book your place

It also coincides with Britspin so there will opportunity to have a go at spinning wool as well. Its going to be heaps of fun😀

#fibreworkshop
#naturaldyeworkshop
#passtheknowledgeon
#naturaldyes
#wildcolour
#craftworkshops

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One for @bluestiggy
a book on the history of woad growing in the fens.
Woad was grown commercially in Long Sutton, Moulton Common and Brothertoft right up to the early 20th C.
At the end it was mainly used in the dying of woollen cloth used in police uniforms.

Brothertoft is interesting as it was the first state of the art permanent woad farm on what was formerly a hamlet known as Isatica. Before this woad farms and the families (communities called colonies) that worked them were transitory and occupied land for four years before moving on to the next place.

#fibreworkshop
#woad
#historyofdyes
#naturaldyersofinstagram
#socialhistory

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When vats go bad...
Working with woad in front of an audience can be a bit of a fly by the seat if your pants experience. This is a 1-2-3 vat we made up at Saturdays workshop using some pigment I had made earlier this summer. We were going to do shibori (fancy way of saying tie- dye) on some silk handkerchiefs as a final activity. Damn thing went all diva'ish on me. We only got some weak dying in a very pale turquoise shades 😕

Its been sat in the workshop for a couple of days whilst I've been thinking and researching and running some diagnostics.
I'm a bit chuffed as I solved it and got it working properly. Some lovely Boudicca blues and turquoise on silk.

Did I say I 💚 woad... #fibreworkshop
#woad
#whenvatsgobad
#naturaldyes
#dyersofinstagram
#naturaldyersofinstagram
#blue
#boudiccablue
#123vat

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Woad workshop
A really good day. I hope these lovely people had as good a day as I did passing on the knowledge on woad.
Really looking forward to seeing how they take it forward and definitely going to run another workshop next year.

#fibreworkshop
#woad
#passtheknowledgeon
#indigoblue
#naturaldyersofinstagram
#plantbaseddyes
#Naturaldye

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Jill Goodwin 1976

A Dyers Manual by Jill Goodwin is one of the classic texts on the subject of plant dyes. Jill's book has taught me so much over the past year. Like many im only familiar with her through her writing. So it was with some amazement that I stumbled across this BBC TV archive where she is talking about woad on her farm in Kelvedon, Essex in 1976. Fascinating to see her speak to us through time. I've popped a link to it in a blog post on the website. Link in bio. Alternatively Eafa.org.UK/catalogue/836

#fibreworkshop
#jillgoodwin
#dyersofinstagram
#naturaldyes
#plantdye
#talkingthroughtime
#eastanglianfilmarchive
#eafa
#woad

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Putting some new skills to the test, check out those rolags!

Spent Sunday learning English long draw with Amandà Hannaford. Amanda was a kind and very generous teacher. Turns out what I do is #americanlongdraw...actually its a diy made it up as i went along this seems to work for me kind of throw the yarn at the wheel and hope for the best draw.

I've never been good at hand carding. Always seems to come out like a badly tangled knotted mass in a roughly cigar shaped thing. But as with most things in life preparation is key to success. Amanda taught me to hand card properly. I've been practising ever since...can't stop...amazed... just goes to show that you can (should) never stop learning new tricks😀😀😀 #fibreworkshop
#guildofspinnersweaversanddyers
#spinnersofinstagram
#spinnersofig
#olddognewtricks
#preperationiseverything
#englishlongdraw

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@thenarboroughflock this week to collect this years Norfolk Horn clip.

The Norfolk ladies in this mini flocket are quite elderly, 9 years old i think. They have no teeth and are unable to graze but still very interested in buckets of feed. And still naughty. They are retired now and will be living out their remaining days in the best sheep hotel.
#fibreworkshop
#thenarboroughflock
#norfolkhorn
#rarebreed
#britishwool
#norfolkwool
#sheep
#norfolklife
#localwool
#naturalfibre
#localproducers

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Golden rod dye bath.

Solidago spp

Harvest is well and truly upon us. Everywhere I turn there is something that needs picking and preparing for storing if I want to have it later in the year. I'm drying, pickling, jamming, slicing and dicing, bagging and tagging every spare minute. Whoever said summer time and the living is easy was a big fat liar and had no idea of self sufficiency!

I came across a big patch of feral Goldenrod and couldn't let the opportunity pass. But, and here's the rub, I have no yarn to dye! Still waiting on the next vintage Norfolk horn from the mill. Goldenrods bright brilliant yellow can only be got from fresh flowers. It doesn't do well dried. Apparently, according to various sources, the dye bath can be frozen. So this is now headed for the freezer. It will be a treat to use it when the days are short and dreary. Brewing on the stove top pulling out yarn coloured with stored sunshine yellow and remembering the summer and everything that's passed this year. It will be bitter sweet.

#fibreworkshop
#naturaldye
#naturaldyersofinstagram
#storingsunshine
#goldenrod
#yellow
#solidago
#selfsuffiency
#localcolour
#plantdyes

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Experiments with St Johns Wort (Hypericum perforatum)

St Johns wort is one of those plants that grows in abundance here, thriving in the loose dry sandy soils. I usually take a crop of the flowers every summer, stuffing them into a jar and covering them with oil to steep. Its a great ingredient for lotions and other potions. My fingers get stained a burgundy red from the bright yellow petals. I've been wanting to try it as a dye plant for ages but just have not had the time to do it. Jenny Dean wrote that it can produce a multitude of different colours (green, red, yellow) if a sequence of mordanted and unmordanted skeins of wool is used. Well these are the results of following her guide. The dye bath was made with 25g flowers. Five dips, 3 alum mordant, 2 no mordant (the browny ones) at the top. Then going anti clockwise the set of five modified with acid, alkali, copper and iron. 25 teeny skeins in all. Disappointing no clean burgundy reds or yellows but some very nice greens and greys. There were some wine red tones when the yarn was fresh but it quickly faded to a purply brown. Nice all the same.

I'm having a bit of a detached period at the moment... Yes more than normal i know...whilst I'm dealing with some profound life changing events. So it was good to spend some slow time picking, stewing and poking brews.
#fibreworkshop
#stjohnswort
#naturaldyersofinstagram
#bioregionalcolour
#plantdye
#slowliving
#dyersofinstagram
#naturalcolour
#selfsufficiency
#sustainabledyes

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