Natural Dye - Dandelion

 

In the Orchard area at the bottom of our Hillside Cottage garden we have an abundance of dandelions! So I decided to brew a little dye pot and capture a little of Nature's colour  growing there.

I wanted to use the flowerheads only for this dye bath. I placed them in a pot of water and boiled them up on our little camping stove. It was good to sit in the orchard, enjoying the spring sunshine and watching the wild life around me, baby rabbits squeezing under the hedge nibbling the long grass, kites circling above and the garden birds singing their many songs.

 

After about an hour of extracting the dye from the dandelion heads, I strained the liquid from them and added a couple of iron nails to the pot to help lift the colour a little.

My pre mordanted wool skein, 

 Shetland fleece handspun-alum mordant 

Then I added the wool to the dye bath and gently simmered the pot for another hour until the wool had absorbed all the colour 

Hanging the skein up to dry in the tree.

The pale yellow colour achieved is gentle and almost a soft lemon.

This wool will be used in my Saori weaving, when woven with other naturally dyed yarns it will give me a way to highlight, lift and lighten a piece of cloth.

This is my first natural dyeing at our new home - Hillside cottage.

It is thrilling to be able to source my colours from my garden. 

We have been busy creating a Weaver's Garden. A place to brew my colours on the firepit surrounded by home grown dye plants.

We will show you more over on our  You tube channel

shortly.

(63) Woollen Tree - YouTube  

A Day at Wonderwool Wales

 Now we live less than one hour's drive away from this venue it was great to visit Wonderwool Wales.

So much to see and buy! 

 I really enjoyed seeing the weaving that the students from the Carmarthen School of Art had been working on.

Jacob sheep and lambs were so friendly and seemed to be loving their day out too!

I came home with my little stash of goodies. Three extra large skeins of variegated dyed wools, a very big bag of coloured tops for blending and spinning. A soft lilac organic cotton spool to add to my weaving stock colours and a collection of paper patterns as I intend to start making my handwoven cloth into garments. 

That should keep me busy for a little while.

 

Spring Time

Spring is here at Hillside Cottage. It is so exciting to discover what is growing in our new garden. We have had an abundance of beautiful snowdrops especially in the Orchard. Now followed by daffodils and primroses. The tree and hedgerow blossoms are just starting to open up their buds. 

So it is time to sow seeds in the greenhouse and prepare the vegetable garden for outdoor sowing too.

It has been great fun to watch the new born lambs in the field at the bottom of the garden. 

There is plenty to keep us busy and give us inspiration for our craft work.

On the David loom at the moment is a long warp. I first wove 8 T towels in various colour combinations in Twills and Basket Weave patterns.

Then I opened up the sett to widen the cloth so as to weave a blankie/ small throw in Saori weaving with twills and basket weave details. This is giving me a chance to delve into my yarn stash of spring colours and enjoy the freedom of weaving without a plan just choosing the threads and colours as I feel with mindful creativity.

Joyful!  

A short video of my studio today

 

Setting Up The Barn Workshop

It's been a big job and there are still things that need doing but we are thrilled to say that The Barn is now up and running as a workshop. It was great to re purpose items we discovered in our outbuildings such as a door and solid workbench with a heavy duty vice fitted.

Our first alteration to the barn was to build a divider wall at the back so as we could have a storage room and somewhere to fit a freezer. We used the lovely old wood door to give access to this "new room". When we had this in place it made it a whole lot easier to sort out and make shelves for all the wood turning equipment and tools. We painted the walls, sealed the floor and unpacked endless boxes. There are storage units for the wood and new cupboards and work surfaces.

The task was more difficult when the space you are trying to build needs a workshop to make to it!

A brand new larger bandsaw needed setting up so as we could use it to help us for the build.

Dividing Wall

Creating a Storage Room 

Finally time to enjoy some Wood Turnery at the Lathe

Our neighbours keep bees, so a few sticks and holders to start with for these delightful real bees wax candles. 

So we now both have our place to work on our creative craft once more.

We are so excited to be bringing our work to you this year from our Hillside Cottage Studios 

Wood and Wool Naturally Hand Crafted by Woollen Tree

 

New Local Outlet for Woollen Tree's Weaving and Wood Turnery

We are thrilled to announce we have found a really lovely local venue to sell our work through.

The Grange is half a mile from our cottage, there is a lovely farm shop and cafe along with antiques and craft. 

The Grange At Mortimers Cross, Leominster | Homepage (mortimersgrange.co.uk)

The Grange at Mortimers Cross | Facebook

We will be adding more stock in the New Year. Here is a taster of some small items for gifts and  stocking fillers for Christmas.

It is good to join local businesses and find support and opportunities to grow 

our Woollen Tree at Hillside Cottage

We feel so welcomed and have settled into our new home.

We are enjoying village life, getting to know neighbours and making new friends through joining in with activities 

It has been very exciting to be putting up our  Christmas decorations for the first time here at Hillside.

We will be back again in the New Year to update you with our new lives in the Herefordshire countryside and share our progress with the house, garden, studios and craftwork.

Meanwhile we wish you all a Very Happy Christmas and a Peaceful and Safe New Year.

Thanks for reading our blog, purchasing our work and for your interest and support.

Best Wishes Sue and Peter

 

Setting Up The Weaving Studio

We have been so busy! 

First we needed to paint inside and outside and lay a new floor in the Garden Studio. 

Exterior wood preservative in forest green, interior white with a splash of red to give the place a zing and energy. We kept the shabby chic look of the roof and windows. I chose a grey Oak laminate flooring which will be easy to clean and reflects plenty of light.

It has been so good to be unpacking all my craft equipment and arranging the studio so as I can work on the looms. I have added large scatter rugs for warmth and comfort. Everything is so easy to move around, I can bring my table looms to the grey desk or my sewing machines to the centre of the room- just adjust the room for how I wish to work. 

Since this photo, I have bought myself a little kettle to have on the grey ladder shelving, great for a cuppa!

Also since this photo I found some extra shelves for this corner to store all my colourful cotton cones.

I'm sure you will see these things as I take more photos of weaving in progress.

I love that I can now

view and select all my yarns stored on my "Wall Of Wool" and that the warping frame is set up for use. 

The natural light in here is really good. I have two windows which look out over the garden and the woods and fields beyond. 

My new studio will be an inspiring place to weave and spin.  

 

New Home, New Studios for Woollen Tree

GARDEN STUDIO

Well the reason there was no blogpost for September is -

We have moved house!

After many happy years on the Isle of Wight, we have found a delightful cottage in Herefordshire to make our new home. so much to do, so many plans.

We are so thrilled and excited.

We have a much bigger garden, so I will be able to grow more veg as well as plant a weaver's dye garden.

We both will be setting up our Woollen Tree studios. 

Mine for weaving. spinning and dyeing, Peter for his wood turning. 

  

GARDEN STUDIO

I shall have the garden studio to start and plan to build another studio alongside so as I can run my workshops all year around.

THE BARN STUDIO

Peter will be setting up in here. We shall post updates on our fitting out and setting up our creative spaces.

Pleased to have gorgeous views of hills and woodland all around and a flock of sheep in the field next to us!

The village has made us so welcome, we just know we have found our forever home.

There are lots we want to do with the cottage too, to make it eco friendly such as solar panels etc.

I think we will have plenty to share with you in our blog as we start this new adventure.

Meanwhile we continue to unpack boxes and settle into our new home. We have opened up our online shops after a short break and will be loading more stock for the new winter festive season ahead.