Woad – j.m.jamison's site of perpetual reconstruction & backyard dyer blog

Woad Processing Oct 2021

Posted on October 4, 2021 | by jamie_work_admin | Leave a Comment

It’s been a long time since I’ve done any Woad processing – or growing. Two years of drought wiped out my front yard patch. One of my fellow SoCal Handweavers guildmates gave me some starter plants that you see in the lower left.

This is following the excellent directions from http://woad.org.uk/html/woad_pigment.html .

Woad plant as of October 2021 — Woad plant, Oct 2021

Woad plant after trimming leaves to process — Woad plant after trimming some of the leaves to process.

I trimmed leaves from the larger plant which yielded 71 grams (2.5 oz) of fresh leaves.

Following the directions for extracting Woad from http://woad.org.uk/html/woad_pigment.html steeped the leaves, added some Soda Ash.

The Soda Ash to make the steeped leaves more alkaline, over pH 9. The introduced oxygen to by running a mixer for about 10 minutes.

Next let it settle – blue at the bottom is the dye.

Pour out or use a turkey-baster to pull out some of the water and replace with more clean water, letting the powder settle to the bottom of the container.

clearner woad sludge — woad sludge “cleaned”

After about 3-4 days of clearing out the water and replacing with clean.

Let the Woad sludge dry out till only powder is left.

So, 71 grams of fresh leaves (2.5 oz) yielded 0.2 grams (0.01 oz). This may not sound like much but keep in mind this was from a few leaves trimmed from one young plant.

Also, I find this kind of process easy to do before and/or after work. Picking some leaves ever couple of weeks and processing that adds up.

Again see the excellent directions from http://woad.org.uk/html/woad_pigment.html .

Initial description and references

Woad vs the Cabbage Moths

Posted on July 17, 2021 | by jamie_work_admin | Leave a Comment

So, the Woad was getting chewed up by Cabbage Moths. Moved the pot and covered with “hardware cloth”. The moths have enough to eat and I need the blue dye.

Brown and Green cotton getting started with squashed (by cats) Catnip. Woad roots look pretty shallow to me so I think that will live well in pots.

Green Cotton, Brown Cotton and a bit of Woad

Posted on July 5, 2021 | by jamie_work_admin | Leave a Comment

Brown cotton seeds starting to come up. Cotton is always interesting to watch. The plant starts elbowing up and as the leaves open up they push off the seed casing.

And the Woad. Woad is not a desert plant. (Pause for a moment of duh.) It requires some extra care when weather is hot and dry.
These two are surviving but look a bit raggedy here due to snacking by bugs. Moved them to a different corner and mixed up some insecticidal soap. Hoping for the best here.

Erlene’s Green (Cotton) and Woad Again

Posted on May 22, 2021 | by jamie_work_admin | Leave a Comment

Another try with Erlene’s Green cotton. Fellow SCHG member Amy (https://www.instagram.com/ewefowlbeast/) has been sharing brown and green cotton seeds as well as Woad seedlings.

Of Woad, Oxalis, and Cotton Mordanting

Posted on March 31, 2019 | by jamie_work_admin | 1 Comment

[Bees in the Oxalis]

About the Woad. I haven’t written much about Woad since there hasn’t been any for awhile. Woad is not a desert plant. (Pause for a moment of duh.) My area of southern California is what some may call “reclaimed desert”. Something you can forget until the car breaks down in the San Fernando Valley in July and there is your reminder.

Two years of drought wiped out whatever Woad I still had growing. But, I still have seeds from the last plant so I’m going to try again this year. Nothing of course can wipe out Oxalis. And the bees like it.

My other on-going project will be mordanting cotton following the method described in John Liles ‘Art and craft of natural dyeing”. Lots of scouring, soaking and then mordanting, more steeping, more soaking and then you get to the actual dying.

March 2016 Weld and Woad

Posted on March 17, 2016 | by jamie_work_admin | Leave a Comment

This Weld plant popped up nearby so I put the bricks around it – my universal marker for this-is-not-really-a-weed-dont-pull-or-stomp-on. With any luck this one will have the tenacity to survive the current drought conditions.

This is the surviving Woad plant from last year.

Back on the Woad Track

Posted on April 21, 2015 | by jamie_work_admin | Leave a Comment

I’ve turned out to be a rather rotten blogger. I have this idea of only writing where there is something appropriate and relevant and then somehow not getting back to it for a few months.

The plants last seen around September 14 have mostly survived. Woad in porch planters were eaten by something. The Woad in the yard took off though one Weld didn’t survive. Additionally I have some more seeds in flats that will hopefully take off.

[Woad]

[Three Weld plants in front, the Woad nearest the tree and another Weld behind.]

[One of the Weld plants.]

Due to drought conditions – I’m in southern California – there are watering restrictions. On my street odd numbered addresses have Mon, Wed, Fri and Sunday, before 9am and later in the evening for watering. For awhile now I’ve been using dish (washing) water on the dye plants and they seem to be doing ok along some shade from the tree.

My other yellow dye staple is Oxalis, aka the Weed-that-does-not-die. That one is of course did well for it’s seasonal appearance and keep a lot of bees happy while providing me with a good supply of yellow/orange dye.

Woad and Weld

Posted on September 3, 2014 | by jamie_work_admin | 2 Comments

Earlier this year I stared some Woad in a planter to see how it would do. So far it has survived the crazy weather and nibbling by local urban wildlife. Looks like it would be possible to grow this one in planters if no yard is available.

This area is the Weld and one Woad plant behind. And behind that is the dead lawn. Current drought conditions are my excuse for letting the lawn go dormant. (Nice word for letting it dry out.) I wouldn’t have a lawn at all but I’ve been outvoted. Since I can’t get rid of it I’m expanding the dye plants and medicinal herbs out over it a section at a time.

One of the Weld plants with the Woad behind.

Mostly New Woad

Posted on May 18, 2014 | by jamie_work_admin | 3 Comments

I haven’t posted in a while. Starting new plants and trying to regrow what I lost in the last heat wave.

Even though my Woad plants curled up and died there were seeds from that last batch.

I’ve been moving them a few at a time into the yard.

This one (above) is the growing-Woad-in-a-planter experiment. Since the roots seemed so shallow it seemed possible that it might thrive in planter.

More Woad and Weld Sans Possums

Posted on May 26, 2013 | by jamie_work_admin | 2 Comments

The Possums are quiet this month. (And I realized that I misspelled ‘Possum’ in my last post so now my poor spelling has been advertised planet-wide…)

The Woad in a planter however still isn’t doing well though the Woad in the ground continues to flourish merrily.

Weld also growing. Hand in the 2nd picture to give an idea of the size. They are still small plants but tend to shoot up in the spring.

I start them off with a cover of hardware cloth (wire mesh) to protect from local wildlife that like to roll and dig into new beds. Just removed the cover this week since I think they are large enough to be safe.