Tag Archives: dyes

Woad Experiments

The use of woad to tattoo / paint / stain skin has long been disputed. Caeser (The Conquest Of Gaul) recorded: “Omnes vero se Britanni vitro inficiunt, quod caeruleum efficit colorem.” – “All the Britons dye their bodies with woad [or glass] , which produces a blue colour…” Pliny backed him up by saying that the colour resembled “…that of Ethiopians.” But is this really woad?

Woad makes a poor paint as it has to be mixed with something else and tends to flake off flexible skin. It makes a worse tattooing ink!

So here it is, a woad dyed foot. Designs made with beeswax resist, in a similar way to batik. Who knows if anyone was doing this in 50 BC, but it’s certainly something to add to the possibilities!

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We shall see how it fades or wears off over the next few hours and days, watch this space! (and these toes…)

UPDATE:    The morning after…

No wear overnight and looking bluer in daylight:

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UPDATE: Blue feet on the BBC

We’re 2500 years ago, on the banks of the Thames near Reading…
Cut to 16.50 for woad dyeing.

“Making History” BBC Radio 4, 23/08/2016

Chalke Valley History Festival 2016

Chalke Valley, Wiltshire

Large multi-period festival with many expert speakers and living history encampments from the Bronze age to WWII. Held in a beautiful bowl valley of rural chalk downland with some fantastic wildlife.

Lovely to see so many dedicated reenactors from so many different periods in history. One of the charms of Chalke Valley is the unusual combinations of people from different times interacting – Romans, Vikings, Tudor and WWI soldiers conversing while a Spitfre flys overhead. The kindness and co-operation between the participants was particulaly overwhelming this year. We had several offers of assistance to move our tent, stock, etc. and many sympathetic conversations about the ankle-deep mud in our area of the site!

Unfortunately we were unable to stay for the second day, as the mud and flooding in our area of the site had become unmanageable. Luckily our wools and tents survived!

Chalke Valley History Festival

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Museum handling objects

We have made a range of items for museum handling collections. These have been made to show ancient crafts and creative techniques. Being able to hold and use something can really bring archaeological artefacts to life for students. They can also represent the mass of organic objects which haven’t survived, to supplement museum objects. The objects are resiliant enough to be used and handled by groups, and being modern, are easily replaceable.

 

For Wallingford Museum we have supplied hand-made ceramic-weighted spindles. These will be a part of their handling collection for school visits and other groups. The spindles are very similar to some archaeological examples which the museum has on display.

 

 

 

For the Ashmolean Museum we have suppied a range of items for their new Bronze Age education sessions.

For their handling collection: Birch bark containers, lime bark cordage and nettle cordage.

For an activity or demonstration: the base plate and willow withys for wattle weaving.

For the Pitt Rivers Museum, we have supplied a range of natural dyestuffs and dyed cloth for a matching game, part of an education session on light and colour. This is part of the Need Make Use / VERVE project at the Pitt Rivers.

Dyes and Pigments matching game for the Pitt Rivers Museum.

New wools and colour ranges

This summer we have been developing new types and colours of wool and silk.

We have:

  • Double knit knitting wool in the full range of colours. This is thinner and more tightly spun than our other double knit.
  • Swaledale breed wool. Ideal for those who want a more hard-wearing or prehistoric type wool. Goes well with our existing herdwick breed wool, but unlike the grey herdwick, the swaledale is white so dyes bright colours.
  • Spun silk in 2 weights. This is shiny and more ‘silky’ than the wild silk.
  • New colour range – We have been develping “Earth” colours – Softer and warmer than the standard bright colours.

New Products

Yew Wood?
We are excited about our new wooden pendants, for christmas tree decorations and necklaces. They are made of Yew, which has beautiful structure, the rings and different colours of heartwood and sapwood are clearly visible.

We are planning to burn designs into them, some of which will be bespoke – Names and requested designs.

A perfect gift.

Spinning Kits
We now have Drop Spinning kits, which include a hand-made drop spindle, some wool to spin and a how-to instruction sheet. Now you can learn at home.

More Colours too…

We love all our new colours, they’ll be in a market near you soon!