Fri 17 November 2023 - Dyeing with woad

(3 hrs) I was privileged to spend today's session at Beechbrae learning about dyeing with woad. A brief summary of the process - steep/heat a quantity of woad in hot water for at least an hour, change the pH by adding washing soda, aerate mix with whisk or pour back and forth between 2 buckets until foam created turns blue (from brownish), then add thiourea dioxide (thiox) to 'reduce' the mixture, stirring then leaving until the liquid is yellowish-green. This is now ready to dip your materials into - woad will dye any natural fibre. Protein fibres (i.e. from animals including wool, alpaca, mohair, and silk) take the dye much more readily than cellulose fibres (i.e. from plants including cotton and linen). Woad works on bamboo and tencel, too, which are also cellulose fibres. As soon as the fibres are lifted from the mix, they begin to turn blue as air hits them and this continues until you rinse them in cold water (but you can also leave them to dry before you rinse them, if you want). The first items dipped will be a stronger blue than subsequent batches. The whole process is very time-consuming, but very satisfying.