Hilltop Cloud
  • About
    • Dugoed
  • Shop
    • Fibre
    • Tools
    • Handspun Yarn
    • Hand Turned Tools
    • Bags and Needle Cases
  • Fibre Clubs
    • Time Travellers Club >
      • TT Club Spinning Hints
    • Never Ending Gradient Club
    • Non-Wool Club
  • Online Courses
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Hilltop Cloud Community
  • Workshops
  • Shows
  • Spinning Hand Dyed Fibre
  • Packaging
  • Fibres
    • Bases
    • Gradient Packs
    • Tussah Silk
    • Silk Road
    • Nordic
    • Fibre Care
  • Resources
    • Videos
    • Garment Spinning
    • Flyers and Ratios
    • Skein Length
    • Plying Twist
    • Samples
  • Hand Dyed Warps
  • Accessibility
  • About
    • Dugoed
  • Shop
    • Fibre
    • Tools
    • Handspun Yarn
    • Hand Turned Tools
    • Bags and Needle Cases
  • Fibre Clubs
    • Time Travellers Club >
      • TT Club Spinning Hints
    • Never Ending Gradient Club
    • Non-Wool Club
  • Online Courses
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Hilltop Cloud Community
  • Workshops
  • Shows
  • Spinning Hand Dyed Fibre
  • Packaging
  • Fibres
    • Bases
    • Gradient Packs
    • Tussah Silk
    • Silk Road
    • Nordic
    • Fibre Care
  • Resources
    • Videos
    • Garment Spinning
    • Flyers and Ratios
    • Skein Length
    • Plying Twist
    • Samples
  • Hand Dyed Warps
  • Accessibility

More Indigo

10/6/2016

 
Last weekend I hosted my guild members for our annual dyeing day. There are certain benefits in having a professional dyer as your secretary and one of them is access to the perfect venue for the more messy aspects of our craft!
Picture
Not that we all fit in my caravan, and the weather currently has transformed it in to a giant oven! After all in essence it's a large metal box, and when we get temperatures in the mid-high twenties (celsius) it does get a bit warm in there. 
I've been dyeing at 7.30am on a couple of days in an effort to get out of there before mid afternoon when the temperatures really soar.

However, a couple of gazebos for everyone to sit under, and popping in and out of the caravan for water, dye baths and everything else is a very good compromise.
Picture
In previous years we've dyed fibre with acid dyes, and used natural dyes on yarn. This year we had a go at Shibori dyeing, so got the indigo vats set up for the second year in a row! Indigo is one of those things where setting up the vat is a bit of a faff, but once it's going is pretty easy to use, so it's ideal for these sorts of days because doing it by yourself for a couple of bits of cloth would be too much hassle. 
It's a Japanese technique where you wrap and fold cloth to provide a resist to the dye. Once you've tied up your fabric it goes in to the indigo pot, and comes out as a small odd-coloured lump! In true fashion I was far too busy fishing in the posts for peoples projects to actually take any photos of this stage.
Picture
Then of course, the magic happens. As you unwrap the bundle the indigo is exposed to the air and the transformation in the dye molecules occurs. The bits where the dye could touch fabric turn a beautiful shade of blue, and the parts that were hidden in folds stay white. 
Picture
You can get very random, or very structured, every piece of cloth came out different!

If you're not already in a guild then it's well worth checking out your local group, there are over 100 groups all over the country, and they're a great place to access new aspects of our craft.
​

Comments are closed.

    Archives

    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013

    More
     BlogPosts

    Categories

    All
    Advent
    Bees
    Chickens
    Countryside
    Dogs
    FO's
    KitILove
    Non Wool Club
    Rhinebeck
    Shop Talk
    Spinning
    Spinningwithapurpose
    SpoinnersAdvent
    Weaving

    RSS Feed

    follow us in feedly

Hilltop Cloud

Hilltop Cloud- Spin Different 

Beautiful fibre you'll love to work with. 
Established 2011 

VAT Reg- 209 4066 19
Dugoed Bach, Mallwyd, Machynlleth,
​ Powys, SY20 9HR
Subscribe to our 
​Email Newsletter
Join the Hilltop Cloud Mighty Network