Tag: alum

Natural Dyeing Experiments: Walnuts – What a Tease!

October 9, 2020

Remember those wizened walnuts that I spoke about in my Natural Dyeing introductory post? Well, I eventually got around to trying them out… and I’m butting back in at the beginning of this post because between drafting this post and publishing it, I’ve also experimented with walnut leaves, so I’ll talk about that here too. In sum… Walnuts – What a rollercoaster! The nuts and husks, wizened or not, were not the real stars of … More Natural Dyeing Experiments: Walnuts – What a Tease!

3 skeins of yarn naturally dyed with Old Man's beard pictured in a hedge of Old Man's Beard.

Natural Dyeing Experiments: Old Man’s Beard or Travellers Joy

July 10, 2020

Old Man’s Beard, Traveller’s Joy or Clematis Vitalba was an iconic part of traditional British hedgerows when and where I grew up. As kids we loved those hairy fronds that appeared around about the same time as blackberries. As a gardener however, too much of the old boy in the hedgerow is a pest. I’m not alone in thinking this and clematis vitalba for all its charms has become regarded as an invasive species in … More Natural Dyeing Experiments: Old Man’s Beard or Travellers Joy