Contributing as a maker to the Ethel Mairet Dye project
Ethel Mairet was a weaver and a natural dyer. In 1916 she wrote a book about natural dyeing. In the book's introduction, she complained that since the advent of the coal based dyes the knowledge of natural dyes had been lost. Coal based dyes were introduced around 1850. This was in 1916 ! She also stated that both natural and chemical dyes fade. But when natural dyes fade they produce paler shades of the original colour. Chemical dyes, she claimed, fade to different colours, generally bad ones. Her book and her work are being celebrated by an exhibition at the Ditchling museum of art and craft. The exhibition is called " Contemporary makers celebrate Ethel Mairet's legacy. " I am one of the contemporary makers. As a contemporary maker, I have to dye a skein of fibre using natural dyes. I can use either a recipe of Ethel's or my own…
