My first batch of Woad sludge finally evaporated down to powder. As soon as the order of Spectralite arrives I’ll test it out.
And the new Woad coming up.
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Coaxing Blue: part 2 – got woad (powder)
Author: jamie_work_admin
Coaxing Blue: My Further Adventures with Woad
I’ve used both Indigo and Woad in powdered form but never processed my own plants. Given my limited garden space it’s unlikely I’ll be able to grow enough for all my dye needs but I still like to grow as much as I’m able and understand the process a bit better.
Woad References:
All About Woad: Extraction Page: <http://www.woad.org.uk/html/extraction.html>
Good pictures of the process.
the Yahoo Woad Growers Group: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/woadgrowers/>
Nice folks. They were helpful when I had processing/extracting questions.
Rowan’s Woad Page: <http://my.net-link.net/2E/EB/rowan/Woad%20Page/woadpage.html#Top>
Institut für Färbepflanzen: Färberwaid: <http://www.dyeplants.de/faerberwaid.html>
If you read or want to practice reading German, this would be a good site.
First year woad plant. From what I’ve read Woad is a bi-annual plant. You get the dye from the first year leaves and your seeds the second year. And, that you can’t get dye the second year. I haven’t tested this out (yet) so anyone correct me if I’m wrong.
Harvesting leaves.
New Woad plants for next year.
Chopping and then stewing or steeping the Woad.
Mixing in the Ammonia to oxygenate.
Waiting around for the particles….(in my case about 3 days). Reading directions for Woad processing it can sound like you see particles settling in 15 minutes or an hour or two. In my case it was more like 3 days to a week. I posted to the Yahoo Woad group to see if I was doing anything incorrectly and got back very helpful replies. In some cases the particle settling phase takes a bit longer.
Finally..shadow on the bottom of the jar is Woad particles I’m waiting for. (Few days more)
Pigment settling and drying.
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Summer Solstice, Woad (hopefully) and Weld
Happy Summer Solstice and all that. On the garden front the Fennel has begun blooming and I have Woad on the way or at least like to think that I do. Last year I misidentified Weld for Woad. Hopefully I’m growing what I think I’m growing this time around. The Weld did however turn out – a good clear yellow dye – and I swapped Weld for Woad seeds with another dyer I met online.
This should be a Woad plant from last years seed swap.
New Woad and Weld covered with screen to keep the local beasties out.
Weld on the way.
This is the rest of the herb garden – some Calendula, Rosemary, Yarrow poking up in the back, Lavender and Sage. Also tucked in there are Valerian, Vervain and Thyme.
And the garden supervisor.
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Pahrump, Nevada; Used Bookstores and German Deli
Just back from visiting family in Pahrump, Nevada. I’ve always liked the desert and Pahrump has quite a bit of that – desert that is, as well as a Ravely group, Pahrump Valley Knitters, a fairly nice branch library – where you can access internet if needed, a used bookstore, Bookworm Haven and a German Deli, Gisela’s Cafe and Deli.
Not a lot of weaving done but a good visit.
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Vernal Equinox, Woad and Weld Started, Small Tapestries and my Flaming AMC
We passed the Vernal Equinox a week or two ago, which I think means beginning of Spring. Days are getting longer with a bit more light later into the evening. Some of the Weld and Woad that weren’t washed out of the flats in the last rain storm are nearly ready to move into the garden.
This one is neither Woad nor Weld, but one of the California Poppies blooming all around my street.
On the subject of weaving, one piece is off the loom and another one started
Lastly, an automotive postscript: My neighbors have taken to calling my AMC (aka: the-brain-that-wouldn’t-die) the “flaming amc”…
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It’s not every day the Fire Department pushes your car home…
Here’s what I have learned. If the differential in your car leaks onto the exhaust system, combustion and yellow flames happen.
No pictures but here’s the story. My 1981 AMC ‘Spirit’ – that’s American Motors Corp – aka the-brain-that-wouldn’t-die, started missing ominously. Now, anyone crazy enough to drive a nearly 30-year old automobile expects some missing and ominous noises now again.
I had pulled out of the drive way and started up the street when the car started missing. So thinking it was not sufficiently warmed up I turned into the alley at the end of my block. That’s when it stalled and started smelling like smoke. It seemed like time to get out of the car and look around. I called the Significant Other who promptly came running down the block. My neighbors (next to the now smoking car) also came running out and pointed to the yellow flames under the smoking car. It seemed like the right time to call the Fire Department.
Which I did, for the first time ever in this life I might add, and since they also are nearly neighbors they showed up immediately with two trucks and took care of business.
They were almost to a person younger than my car (if not my shoes) asked what on earth is that car model (now smelling like an extinguished camp fire). Then they kindly offered to push the car down the block and back into the driveway.
Like the title says, it’s not every day the Fire Department pushes your car home. Thank you LA Fire Department.
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Cat Supervised Weaving
Pictured above is TR*, aka the little ball of fury, behind my LeClerc tapestry loom. Nice thing about table/portable looms is the ability to haul the whole business outside when the weather is nice and of course back when it’s not. It’s even possible to manage this with the loom in one and and a small, loud cat in the other. Of course, by the time this posts the weather is back to rain again.
In progress: recycled sweater yarn – wool – dyed with woad and miscellaneous yard trash.
*TR: Where her name cames from: TR was rescued in a TRW industrial park.
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Rain, Sun and back to Rain Again
Did I mention that the weather here is volatile and often just plain weird? Rain coming down in buckets. Windy. Tomorrow noon it may be sunny and near 70°, unlikely as that seems right now. 
Good weather to say in and weave. I’m currently working on a small piece woven with the “deconstructed” or recycled Abercrombie & Fitch sweater wool from my local Out-of-the-Closet thrift shop. Project began as a local guild challenge (earlier dye posts) and I’m still weaving through the accumulated stash.
The wool is a natural off-white. It’s been dyed with onion skins, Hibiscus flower (dried), Woad (powdered), Fennel, miscellaneous yard trash and copper or iron mordants. I don’t really have a good, reliable local blue so generally I use Woad powder or Indigo. I was trying as much as possible to use what’s locally available and go easy on the chemical mordants. 
The cats deal with the weather by alternately hibernating and demanding the door to Spring. Not a bad plan.
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my idea of a good day
My idea of a really good day is getting things done. Winter solstice has passed and we are finally getting more daytime light. This weekend I managed my usual weekend laundry, garden weeding and did a small woad vat.
[left to right: yellow #2 exhaust bath, cactus fruit, woad, woad over-dyed with fennel.]
I’ve been working on onion baths, first one for the darker color – tangerine-orange – and exhaust the remaining dye for lighter yellow. [The pinkish-orange was my previously mentioned cactus fruit attempt.
[upper left clockwise: onion with a 15 min copper after-bath, onion #1 bath, cactus fruit, onion #2 exhaust bath.]
I’ve tried 1:1 (fiber:dye stuff) but have found that 1:.5) works well too even if I have to let it sit longer. First bath simmers for an hour, sits over night and then the 2nd exhaust bath is another hour of simmering and again cooling over night.
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Seasons Greetings and all that
I have this theory that the best to start a new year, or move to a new home, is with newly begun (or even unfinished) projects. Then there is something ready to work on immediately. My way of making myself feel at home while the cats no doubt are sniffing every corner.
That in mind there’s a dressed loom and a simmering dye pot waiting. Not a bad way to start the new year off.
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