Natural dyeing Archives - Page 2 of 6 - Jane Mercer Felt Artist

So how thin can I make a beautiful piece of felt ?

Many years ago I went to a workshop by Lisa Klakulak. The big take away for me was how the thin or thick fibre layout affects the quality of the final felt. In my mind, this is called layout density. The thinner felt layout shrinks more and is stronger hence the name of Lisa's website - Strongfelt. So what you are thinking. Well, I want to make thin felt. In fact, thin white felt. I want to make thin but cosy , light and comfortable wraps. The white felt will act as a foil for my naturally dyed fabrics. This thinking process reminds me of the great care Lisa took in the starting thickness of the felt she was making. I started with 4mg of fibre/ cm2. My wrap size is big so this means a total of 60g of fibre. At this density, it’s very hard for me to lay out…

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28/01/2021

Why did it all start with dandelions ?

I was reminded last week, whilst walking on the cliffs in Northumberland, how my passion for natural dyeing all started with dandelions. It was a sunny Sunday in mid-May 2014. I was living in the Netherlands and along with the rest of the Netherlands, I spent my afternoon cycling on the local cycle paths. While I was out I noticed a huge patch of dandelions. Something switched in my brain and I thought I will come back and pick them and try out some natural dyeing. Naeve, I know! But I was very enthusiastic and there was such a lot to pick. It wasn’t the most successful experiment I have done as I was woefully underprepared. Here is a link to the blog I wrote at the time. The dandelions I picked. What a glorious colour ! My pale shade of dandelion on wool, cotton, and silk. Not so glorious. I had…

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12/05/2019

machine stitching / Natural dyeing / Textile art / Wet felting / Wool

Why did I get inspiration from painted fields ?

I have always loved to stand on the top of a hill or a ridge and look down at the patterns formed by the fields in the valley. So it’s not surprising that when I visited The Biscuit Factory in Newcastle I found inspiration in the pictures that were being exhibited by Rob van Hoek. His pictures reminded me of the landscape in the Netherlands where I used to live. They also made me think of standing on a hill looking down on the field patterns in the UK. I loved the lines he had scrapped out of the paint to mark out the different fields. I wondered two things. First could I make a similar piece with my naturally dyed wool. And secondly, could I find similar inspiration for pieces in the North York’s Moors where I live. One step at a time. It is the depth of winter here and…

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27/01/2019

Armley Mill / IFA / Natural dyeing / Wet felting / Wool / Yorkshire

My fantastic time at Armley Mills as artist in residence

I have recently spent a fantastic week as artist in residence at Leeds Industrial Museum at Armley Mills. When I first visited the museum with the IFA in April 2017 I did not think that I would enjoy the luxury of a week in the museum , dyeing and felting. How lucky I have been. Armley Mills , was once the world’s biggest woolen mill. It is therefore a very appropriate venue for an artist in residence with a love of wool and a passion for felting with naturally dyed materials. I am fascinated by most machines, but especially those which process wool. My felt pictures using commercially dyed wool inspired by the machines are in the current exhibition at Armley Mills. As artist in residence, I wanted to take this work further. But also limit myself to using naturally dyed wool fibres. A…

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23/08/2018

Natural dyeing

My inspiring day at the fascinating Couleur Garance

It rarely happens to me, that I am just in the right place at the right time. Months ago we were asked if we would help some French friends harvest their grapes. It seemed like a good idea to us and we thought we could roll this assistance into an Autumn holiday. Not long after all these plans were laid, I realised we would be staying not so far from the gardens at Lauris managed by Couleur Garance. It then transpired that whilst we were there Couleur Garance were holding a natural dye forum and fair. What perfect timing ! Couleur Garance was founded about 20 years ago in part of the terraced gardens of Lauris castle in southern France. The garden's main aim is to inform everyone about natural dye plants. Plants from around the world are assembled to tell the science of plant dyes, along with how the plants…

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08/10/2017

Eco Dyeing / Mordant / Natural dyeing / Walnut / Wet felting

Walnuts are not just for eating

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to be given some green walnuts. I had never used walnuts for dyeing before. It was a bit of a puzzle to me as to what part of the walnuts I should use for dyeing. Should I use them whole or chop them up.? I checked in Jenny Deans book Wild Colour and realised I should use the whole green walnut . So I just randomly chopped the green casing away from the walnuts shell and placed the chopped up mixture in the dye pot. I did not remove the nuts. After a short time of simmering the solution was a delicious brown colour. I kept it simple and only dyed wool fibres, silk thread and a small piece of silk fabric. The wool fibre , which was Wensleydale long wool , had been mordanted with Alum. The wool dyed brilliantly with the…

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23/09/2017

Natural dyeing / Wet felting / Woad

My exciting experiments with Woad

I am keen to use locally grown dyestuff in my work, either foraged or from my garden. So earlier this year I planted some woad seeds. I had obtained the seeds from natures rainbow. Woad has been used as a dye stuff in Britain for 100s of years and I found it remarkably easy to grow. What I did not research at the time of planting was anything about harvesting for dyeing. When I did was somewhat perplexed as to the complexity of the harvesting procedure - never mind the dyeing processes. It was clear that I needed to harvest the leaves in the first year of growth. But when , summer of autumn. Possibly that depends when you planted the the seeds. I have been looking at my plants now for a number of weeks , wondering is today the day to harvest. As I have a holiday planned shortly…

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17/09/2017

art exhibition / From The Earth Textiles / Natural dyeing / Textile art / Wet felting

How I measure success at exhibiting textile art

In the last few years I have participated in a number of exhibitions. Exhibiting my very first time was my most successful in terms of sales. I sold out. A fluke ? I don't know ? As I think about my pieces for a exhibition in Leeds I wonder what defines exhibiting success . In 2012 I became aware that there would be an exhibition entitled "The dyeing of the Sun - a meditation on fire ". I had never put a piece in an exhibition before. I thought about the exhibition brief and my mind started to think about super novas and the wonderful pictures you see of them. They have crazy names like crab nebulae and pelican nebulae. These pictures are produced by assigning different wave lengths to the colours of the visible spectrum. How techy. Just my thing. I was hooked on this as a exhibiting subject. But how…

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20/08/2017

Eco Dyeing / eco printing / Natural dyeing / Printing

Why I enjoy the excitement of Eco Printing

Eco printing is fun, exciting and for me a good change from natural dyeing and felting. Here in the UK now is the ideal time for eco printing. The flowers are blooming and the sap is rising as the spring turns in summer. I had a great experience with a workshop in 2016 with the wonderfully generous Fabienne Dorsman-Rey at Art Van Go . This year I have refreshed some of my Eco printing knowledge as I was lucky enough to win a free workshop with Kathy Hays. Their Eco Printing methods are not the same but are very complimentary and I would recommend them both. Looking back a year ago I am delighted with this eco printed and slow stitched cloth I made during and after Fabienne's workshop. I also incorporate Eco printed silk into felt pieces. Below you can see where I used the almost shibori dyed edge of…

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09/07/2017

Eco Dyeing / Natural dyeing / Upcycling / Wet felting

Why am I building an unique scrap hoard?

I never thought I would be building a scrap hoard with all my thread scraps and felt scraps and then reusing them. When I first started natural dyeing, I stitched the felt before dyeing but I did not cut off all the loose ends. They were left until the piece was dyed and them tidied up. At this point I started saving the excess threads and sometimes adding an extra stitch or two with the small amounts of spare thread. This was not very satisfactory as I was so very limited in the amount of thread. So I quickly started making some extra dyed threads by adding small hanks of cotton and silk threads into the dye bath with my felt pieces. I saved these yarn scraps made during this process. This was the start of my scrap hoard. Early this year started dyeing separately all the constituent parts of my felt…

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10/06/2017