The Mulberry Dyer

The courses at Alt-y-bela take place in an old barn - old, uneven and dark with shuttered windows, burning candles and a wood burning stove.  With the pots of dye material bubbling away it gave the whole an alchemical atmosphere.
The dyeing course was run by Debra Bamford, aka The Mulberry Dyer, and as she specialises in historically correct dyes, working with museums and historical re-enactment societies, it was exactly the right venue.
First we talked about all the preparation work that Debs had done before the course - the mordanting of our pieces of wool and silk - scrubbing them up and treating them with alum so that they were ready to take the dyes.

Then we moved onto the fun bit - the pots of simmering plants - dyer's broom; madder; walnut leaves; safflower and alkanet - and we learned how to dye, how to modify, how to overdye and what happens if you add stale piss to the dyebath.
We also learned how everyone's temperament had as much effect on the final result as did the individual dyes - the final colours were all quite different depending on how impatient we were with the dyebaths.
The thing that amazed me was quite how vibrant the colours were - particularly fleece dyed with dyer's broom which could have been used to make one of those high visibility jackets.  Debs told us how yellow stockings were by men worn to indicate that they were young free and single - so there you go!
One of the joys of  going on courses, completely aside from the learning of a new skill, is the people you meet.  Somehow, when everyone is concentrating and sharing ideas it gels and there is no awkwardness.  I am actually quite a shy person, I don't relish introducing myself to new people, yet here, where I knew no-one prior to the day, I felt welcome and relaxed and chatty. The photo shows Arne and Chris (who has a wholesale plant nursery and a fantastic knowledge of plants) deliberating over cloth!
Here is the washing line strung up with some of the threads and fleece that we dyed (all carefully labeled).
The whole of the day was held together and made joyous by Arne's assistant, Kristy, one of the most understatedly and sunnily capable people I have ever met.
It was also made memorable by the truly delicious lunch, cakes and coffee (someone who had been on a previous course at Alt-y-bela had claimed before I went that the lunch alone was worth the fee - they may have a point)
In conclusion - it was a fantastic day - I learned loads of useful stuff, I met great people, I saw an emerging garden, I ate a delicious lunch, I drank white wine in the sunshine.  I came away feeling very privileged.
Definitely worth the 8 hour drive.
The Mulberry dyer is doing another course at Alt-y-bela just before Christmas - contact kristy@arne-maynard.com for details. 

Comments

[ginny]

Wow Jane, What a fantastic day, and an amazing atmosphere making magic colours. The yellow stockings reference reminds me of Malvolio in Twelfth Night, who wears yellow stockings tied up with red ribbons hoping to woo Olivia.
Glad to hear you had a fab time... looking forward to seeing some natural dying appear in your work sometime soon!
ginny x

[tracy x]

lucky you!
your comment about being shy hit home a little....
i too am considered a shy person - the thought of meeting new folk makes me back away in to a corner!
i need to take a leaf out of your book and just get out there - because clearly i am missing really good cake x
sorry to hear about your build - it truly is an awful experience!
unless contractors etc are chased and chased nothing seems to get done - we were due to have three men on site this morning - we drove down to run the dogs in our field at midday and there was no sign of them :(
a local friend said that they had arrived at 8am and stayed for about three hours and then left!!!
the really annoying part is that between the three of them in three hours they only marked and laid out three rows of string - by the time we got there the sheep had done a merry dance over the string and all was lost.......
if it was not such a happy sunny day i think i would have cried!!!
hope the sun is shining with you - almost too much sun for my pale skin here!
t x

[gigibird]

Sounded like the perfect day – good company, fascinating subject, food, cake in lovely surroundings.
It’s funny how we think that natural dyes mean dull colours.
I do hope you get your cauldron out (:)) and get dyeing soon.

[pipany]

Wondering if you have plans to use these new skills for your business jane or if this was something purely for you (and forgive me if I have missed this on an earlier blog)? Such an amazing experience and don't you just love those names - madder, wode, etc? So evocative aren't they? With you on the shyness thing too; I think maybe most of us have this trait to some degree or another and probably just learn the skills to manage it over the years - only wish I had been able to as a child! xx

[snapdragon]

I am hoping to be able to use plants in the garden to dye cloth that can then be used in my embroideries - not really growing plants especially for dying but rather using the bits that are left over from cut flowers (e.g. dahlia leaves).
I claimed that I was going to do this last year but didn't get around to it - goingon this course should spur me on a bit.
J
x

[Clover Yard]

What an interesting course Jane, I think learning a new skill brings out the best in all of us. Isn't it great when you get to that comfortable level with people. Does this mean the end of white socks in your house from now on? ;)

[snapdragon]

We seem to specialise in odd socks here anyway - and while some may have long ago been white they are no longer. Rainbow dyed socks sound so much more inviting than the sad grey that ours are reduced to,
J
x

[Alice C]

How wonderful to be able to share the pleasure of the garden and the excitement of learning a new skill. Thank you!

[Nonnie]

Oh my goodness Jane, I came very close to meeting you on this course as I was almost going on it the day before! I think you will have met my two colleagues Francois and Matthew who did go. I'm assuming it's the same day that they were there - last Thursday?( I hope they didn't come accross as 'stuck up' London Interior Designers!) Arne is a friend of my boss Jonathan and Jonathan was supposed to do the course but couldn't at the last minute so asked F and M to go instead. I was asked as well but much as I would have loved to do it, being told you have to go to Wales for the day, the day before, was too much organisation for me! I've seen their photos though and it looks like an amazing place and sounds like a very interesting day.

[snapdragon]

Isn't the world small - I met both Francois and Matthew and both were far from stuck up - though having a few problems with everything coming out of the dye baths orange which they thought might not quite meet their brief.
They went away with lots of beautiful linen yarns for your reference library - I'd get in there and snaffle them away if I were you.
J
x

[Deb]

HI Jane,
What a fab write up!!! Thank you! I love dyeing and hopefully inspire people to "go away and play" I look forward to reading how you are getting on! Don't forget there is an "after-sales service" if you have any questions or want to go over things!
It was a good group of people and a very inspiring day for the teachers too! It was nice that we met up the night before and had a chance to relax together first!
For the comment about Malvolio-
The yellow hose of Malvolio were because he was "available" and we had the priveledge of dyeing the hose for the productions of Twelfth Night at the Globe Theatre, day-glo yellow! (using weld)