by Frida and Kristina
Frida has been cropping more flowers and leaves from the dye plot and dyeing textiles.
Golden rod, Solidago canadensis, a prairie plant, is native to North America. It produces a good yellow with an alum mordant and a bright orange with tin.
Japanese indigo, Persicaria tinctoria, a Chinese plant, is susceptible to frost, so it is grown annually from seed.
We tried two different planting methods: scattering the seeds directly into the ground in Spring and bringing on the young plants at home before planting out. The second method proved more reliable. The leaves are used fresh to produce a range of turquoise and pale blues.
There is a large amount of woad, Istatis tinctoria, in the garden which is a traditional European and British biannual dye plant producing good quality blues. The seeds were scattered in the Autumn directly onto the soil as they germinate after a cold spell. The leaves are collected in the first year whilst a few plants are allowed to overwinter for seed collection in the second year.
We have so much woad that we are happy to share with anybody who wants to come and collect. Contact us at grantongarden@gmail.com.
Yellow-dyed textiles are overdyed with woad and Japanese indigo to give a good range of greens. It is important to dye the yellow first because a mordant is needed to fix the yellow colour, whilst overdyeing with woad and Japanese indigo does not need a mordant.
We shall be demonstrating dyeing techniques and exhibiting our collection of dyed textiles at the Open Days on 26th & 27th September from 1.30-4 pm. All Welcome.