Dream Catcher

The project I'm doing on natural dyeing that I'm blogging about here, was stimulated by being part of MK50, an exhibition featuring the work of 25 maker-artists practising in Milton Keynes today, as the new city celebrates its 50th birthday. There is book associated with this event, spotlighting the work of the maker-artists, and a travelling roadshow to bring contemporary arts and crafts in MK to the attention of a wider public. Contributors have been asked to show a piece that draws on Milton Keynes for its inspiration, hence my weaving project featuring the colours of Loughton.

The roadshow also affords opportunities for the public to get making, through fun and accessible workshops that give hands-on experience of a range of contemporary crafts. I have been invited to offer one of these with a focus of weaving. Here's the children's weaving project I've devised. It will not feature my naturally dyed yarns as these a very precious to me and in any case the children will probably appreciate a bit of 'bling'. Yesterday and today, I'm putting together 20 kits for the workshop, which is set to take place on Saturday 8th April at the Oxfam shop in nearby Olney, from 11.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m. Do go along to participate in this weave-in!

Dream Catcher

This project is based on the idea of a ‘dream catcher’. Dream catchers are a tradition of First Nation Americans. A dream catcher was made to protect a sleeping person from bad dreams, while sending good dreams to the sleeper. The good dreams would slip through the hole in the middle of the dream catcher, and slide down the fringes at the base to protect the sleeper below. The bad dreams would get caught up in the circle’s web, and die with the first rays of the rising sun.

Your dream catcher kit contains:

• a 17 cm card circle loom with a hole at the centre and 15 notches around the perimeter

• a length of strong, thin black yarn to string (warp) the loom

• a large plastic needle 

• a small metal needle (for those who can sew)

• various coloured yarns in different textures and thicknesses

• colourful wooden beads, pom-poms and feathers for decoration

• thread to attach the decorations (for those who can sew)

Tip: Be very careful when you unpack the kit. Lay the two sets of yarn, the plain yarns and the fancy ones, out flat so that the threads are kept straight and will be less likely to tangle. Separate each strand very carefully, for the same reason. The glittery yarn has been rolled into a ball. Cut off lengths as you need them.

You may also need:

• a small piece of sticky tape to secure the beginning of the warp string

• if you cannot sew, craft glue to fix your decorations

• scissors to trim away excess yarn

Tip: If you would like to make more than one Dream Catcher, trace around your cardboard circle onto another firm piece of card, before you begin to thread your loom, so that you have a copy of the pattern.

Preparing your loom for weaving.

Tape the piece of strong, thin black yarn to the back of your circle loom. Thread the other end onto your needle, and pop the threaded needle through the centre of the circle to the front of your loom.   

Bring your yarn across the loom to the edge, and pop it back through one of the notches and then forward to the front again, at the next notch. Take the yarn all the way across the circle to a notch on the opposite side and pull it through to the back of the circle. Bring the yarn back again through the neighbouring notch to the front of your circle. Take the yarn back across the circle to the other side, and pull it through the notch that is next to your starting point, to take the yarn to the back of the circle.    

Repeat this process until you have a string in every notch, making a spider’s web across the circle loom. The very last string will follow the line of your first string, back to the centre of the circle. You will notice that the strings intersect a little to one side of the circle.    

Pop the needle through to the back of the loom, and bring it through to the front again to catch the strings and draw them into the centre above the hole. Take the needle in and out until all the strings rest over the central hole. Un-tape the tail of your starting yarn and tie in in a firm knot, several times, with the finishing end at the back of the circle loom. Trim the ends so that they do not get in your way.

Instructions for Weaving

To weave on your loom, choose a length of plain coloured, thin yarn to start with. Tie the yarn you want to start weaving with through the centre of your yarn spokes at the back of the loom. To make the weaving grow faster, double your yarn when you thread your needle to begin to weave. You can add thicker, fancy yarns further out from the centre.. Thread your needle and begin weaving your yarn in and out of the yarn spokes. Go around the circle over and under, as shown in the picture.   

Add new colour of yarn by simply tying it to the one already on the loom and re-threading your needle. Push the ends underneath your weaving as you go. Add beads as you weave if you like, using the metal needle and fine thread provided. Carry on weaving until you reach the outside edge of the loom, or just stop when you have done enough weaving if you prefer. When you're done, simply tuck the end in behind your weaving, or tape the yarn to the back of your circle. 

Tip: Save a good length of the sparkly ‘eyelash yarn’ to finish weaving around the outside edge of your dream catcher if you would like to hide the cardboard.

Decorating your dream catcher.

You can add a fringe to the bottom of your weaving, or glue or sew beads, pom-poms and feathers around the edge if you like. Be creative and use your imagination! Use a length of yarn to make a hanger for your finished work of art and attach it to the back of the loom with sticky tape or by attaching it to the black warp thread, at the top edge as shown in the photo. 

To add a fringe to your dream catcher, tie a doubled length of yarn across the back of your loom, from one side to the  other, as shown in the photo, and knot the ends together. Loop several doubled lengths of spare thread round this line, as shown in the close-up, so that the threads dangle down to direct good dreams to a sleeping person. Plait or trim the fringe as you prefer.    Hang your dream catcher where it can be admired. 

Dandelions

I've been away in Arizona for a couple of weeks, visiting friends, so it was a delight to see that spring had arrived in the Uk whilst I was away. The dandelions are out in force along Milton Keynes' grid roads, where the high speed traffic spreads the dandelion clocks along the grass verges.

Yesterday afternoon I gathered a basket full of dandelion flowers that were basking in the warm sunshine, to dye with. This is what 900 plus dandelion heads look like! My fingers were stained bright yellow by the time I had finished.

Following Jenny Dean's instructions, I boiled the heads of an hour. The brew looked most unappetising!

Once I'd strained off the heads, I dyed four skeins of wool using my standard method. Three had been pre-mordanted with alum and cream of tartar, and one with copper and vinegar. The recipes, with precise quantities, can be found in January's blog archive. All four skeins were immersed in a large dye bath and simmered for half an hour. Initially, I was a bit skeptical about the colour that seemed to be emerging. It seemed rather weak and wishy-washy.

After half an hour, I spooned off five scoops of the dye liquor with my trusty green soup ladle, into two smaller pans, and added an iron assistant to one and a tin assistant to the other, to sadden and gladden two of the alum mordanted skeins. The pinch of tin is in the orange pot and the pinch of iron in the yellow one, both dissolved in a small amount of boiling water. On the hob, the tin pan is at the front and the iron on at the back. Again, precise quantities can be found in earlier posts.

All three pans were left to simmer for another half hour, before straining off the dye, and washing and rinsing the skeins until the water ran clear. Given my earlier anxiety about insipid colours, I was quite pleased with the results of my labours, from left to right mordanted/assisted with alum, copper, tin and iron respectively.

So what to try next? Dandelion leaves, or nettles or dock leaves, or even some of the new green shoots that are appearing on the trees? Where will my fancy take me, I wonder?

Ostara

Picked the colour palette for my Ostara weaving this morning. All naturally dyed. Ostara is just one of the names applied to the celebration of the spring equinox on March 21. The origin of the word is from Eostre, a Germanic goddess of spring. This season coincides with Christian Easter and the Jewish Passover. It is a time to celebrate planting and growing crops.

Results from the Gorse Dye Bath

Gathering whole plant tops proved much easier and less painful than trying to harvest just the gorse petals. I soon filled my basket. Took the gorse straight home to the kitchen and simmered the plant stuff for an hour, before straining off the stewed tops and substituting my pre-mordanted skeins. The results are not quite as lemon yellow as the skeins dyed with daffodils, but the skein assisted with tin came up trumps as usual, and gave me a lovely golden sunshine yellow. I'm still digging gorse prickles out of my fingers, though!

Gorse

Yesterday, I went for a walk to gather some gorse flowers that are in full bloom at the edge of Lodge Lake. Ouch, what a prickly job! I gave up after about half an hour as it came on to rain, and I had only managed to cover the bottom of my basket with flowers.

I think I'll give up hope of obtaining a clear yellow dye just from the flower petals, and gather whole flower heads, including the prickly leaves,to see if I can extract a yellowish green dye from the entire plant tops.

Narcissi

My Martinette multi-flowered Narcissi are coming into bloom in my garden. They have a wonderful fragrance, and I can't resist bringing some into the house where they open more quickly. The indoor flowers have released their aroma and are beginning to die back, so I made a dye bath with the flower heads to see what colours they would give me. I'm more than happy with the results.

Madder

I'd been holding off from dyeing with madder because I don't think there is anyone local who grows it. Now I've got my allotment, I can grow it myself. I've dyed with it twice now, hoping to obtain some clear reds. The first time I obtained what I'm calling Bayeux Tapestry reds, OK but not exactly pillar box red.

I had another go recently, following the instructions in Jenny Dean's book very carefully. She suggested pouring boiling water on the roots a couple of times and straining the liquor off after a couple of minutes, to remove any orange and brown pigment. Then using the madder in the usual way, but correcting the bath to make it alkaline. I did this and obtained the following results. First, the set of 'clear reds'. Definitely brighter, but still tending to orange. The extra skein at the end is un-mordanted!

The strainings gave me a slightly paler, more orange set. So I've still to crack the problem of obtaining a good, clear red.

Alder

I've had my eye on some fine alder trees in the station car park for some time now, so a couple of days ago I gathered some cones, twigs and catkins to see how they would dye up. I could not reach even the lowest branches, so I had to gather these from the ground. I was concerned that any dyestuff would have leached out over the winter, but I need not have worried. I heated them in my slow cooker and strained off the liquor. It was very dark and smelled a bit like stewed tea, which was promising. The skeins I dyed are a rich golden brown, apart from the one modified with iron, which is unsurprisingly much darker than the rest.

Ivy: a failed experiment

So I had my first failure yesterday. I picked some Ivy leaves, stems and berries from the garden and stewed them for an hour, as one does with fresh leaves. I mashed them with a potato masher, but hardly any pigment came out. I popped some skeins into the strained liquor, to see if a miracle occurred, but it didn't! In the end, I kept the skein mordanted with copper because it gave me a soft olive green, but as the skeins mordanted with alum stayed almost the same colour as before they entered the bath (just looking a little dirtier), I washed them out to use again. Still, I've achieved the first green of the season, albeit unintentionally!