I have always found the colour red to be immensely appealing.  It’s bright, yet dark, it glows, but can be sombre. It’s the colour of love, blood, danger, the desert and fire engines. It means different things and triggers different emotional responses depending on the context in which it is used.

Possibly the loveliest part of dyeing with madder, is the smell of it. It has a rich earthy sweet smell, and it just smells red!  Standing at the stove, checking my dye, breathing in the sweet earthy aroma makes me feel really connected to what I am working on. It conjures up a sense of well being and warmth, contentment and pleasure.

If I was a religious person I would say it feels like a prayer. Standing at the stove, feeling the heat, breathing in the dye’s scent, it centres me and makes me calm. I imagine it’s how a chef feels when they are concocting a culinary masterpiece, and all the flavours come together just so, and they can smell it, and they know the joy of what they’re making before it is done.

Madder is a traditional dye plant and it’s use has been dated as far back as 2000 BC.  The dye is present in the root of the plant, and is cultivated in 3 year intervals. I would love to grow my own madder for use, but the 3 year wait to then harvest has dissuaded me so far.

All my experiments with Madder root have been on merino and alpaca yarns. I would like to attempt a Turkey Red on cotton one day, but the length of time and investment involved in using it with a plant based fibre is daunting to say the least. I will do it eventually, even if just to say that I have.

Madder root is quite a weak dye and requires a lot of it for depth of shade. It can make for a bit of a thrilling dye experience because then if you screw up, you know you might as well have set some money on fire instead! The upside however when it works out is you get a brilliant deep red, and you can then use the dye bath again and again to achieve lighter shades. The lighter corals, peaches and pinks are quite lovely, and are just as colourfast.  They remind me of the roses that grow in the front yards around Moreland at the end of summer.

Madder is considered to be very light and washfast, and can be good to use as a control sample when testing other dyes for the same. The most important technical thing to remember when you dye with Madder Root is to not let it get too hot, or your colour will not be as pleasantly vibrant.

Enjoy your dyeing with Madder! Don’t forget to take a moment to relax, breathe it in, and let it’s earthy wonderfulness wash over you.

Merino throws dyed with Madder available in the shop!

I’ve worked on some new stuff recently which I haven’t shown off yet blog wise! I’ve done a short run of Linen cushion covers which you can grab in the shop, and I also made some one of a kind patchwork scarves using merino.

I’ve been doing a lot of admin behind the scenes and have recently picked up not one but four new stockist! How cool is that?? I think it’s pretty cool. In Melbourne you can find me at Hut13 on Swan St in Richmond. It’s pretty close to the Corner hotel. Then you can find me at Nook in West End (Brisbane QLD) and at Mr Sparrow in Subiaco (Perth WA). Lastly you can find me online at Hunt & Bow.

I feel pretty lucky to be picked up by such great stores!

In other news I have some cool stuff I want to work on over the xmas. I’m going to finally get a fermentation vat going, and a 123 vat as well. Then I have a number of new techniques to try out, so I’ll no doubt have some great photos to share of those too. I’ve recently been admiring the work of Hiroyuki Shindo, which I highly recommend taking a look at. Truly awe inspiring beautiful stuff. Something to aim for!

This weekend I will be at Bend and Snap Market at 1000 £ Bend on Sunday. I’ve got some new goodies in the shape of merino gloves to unveil, dyed with Indigo, Madder and Cochineal. They’re pretty spesh, and super warm.

I’ll also have a few merino scarves dyed with Madder and Cochineal as well as a bunch of yarn of differing bases, as well as my Indigo. Busy busy! I’ve got the yarn mordanting on the stove as I write this post in fact!

If you’ve been nosing around the shop lately you’ll see that I have a few silk scarves on sale. These will be available at the sale prices at the market, as well as a few others that haven’t been listed in the shop yet, and some eco prints. Ooh! And I also have some home wares that are yet to make a website appearance! Gees I really should get cracking and put all this stuff in the shop!

I also did a little interview a few months back with the organisers of Bend and Snap. Click here to have a read of it. 

This past weekend I had a stall at Craft Hatch, which was pretty amazing, I met some wonderful designers as well as some of the Craft (Victoria) people which was really great.

2 designers I would love to share from Craft Hatch are Shiko and Mara Kapsis. Shiko creates beautiful hand thrown pottery (I picked up a tea cup, and it is divine) and Mara Kapsis creates gorgeous hand screen printed home wares and gift wrapping. If you take a peek on her website though, she has also done some work with natural dyes, which I absolutely would have quizzed her on had I realised!

I did launch my new 100% NZ Merino range of scarves at Craft Hatch, which were received rather well, (yay!) and I have also now begun listing them on the website and etsy. I will have more colours listed by the end of today. These scarves are generously sized at approx. 50cm x 165cm, They’re a really great width and length, yet each scarf weighs approx 150g, making them super lightweight! Merino is really a fantastic fibre to work with, its light yet warm, it wicks moisture, its super soft and is just all round amazing.  They are also perfect for both men and women, they’re all round just great.

Coming up on June 16 I will be at Rose St market in Fitzroy, along with some other fabulous stalls. Rose St market also has a cafe and has a really cruisey vibe. I saw some great work last time I visited, I was really blown away by the talent displayed there! After tackling my first ever market, I’m looking forward to doing another so quickly.

Lastly, on the 30th of June I will be at 1000 Pound Bend once again for Bend and Snap! Bend and Snap has some really cool stalls at it, and they always have little craft projects going on that everyone can take part in, so if you want to get your craft on, then it’s a great market to visit.