{ Sheeps Clothing }

I have loved working with wool ever since I first felt it's warm nap..
well....over 25 years ago I would guess...

I beagn my love affair with this textile when I started to hook rugs, scouring out the thrift stores and Goodwill for an occasional Pendleton shirt...or perhaps a horrid plaid skirt that I knew I could make primitively beautiful by overdyeing it...

Since moving here to VA, and raising our own sheep, it has become abundant for me, which is why I started to needle felt...
Needle felting is done by poking a barbed needle down into carded wool roving, to form a shape.
you can either felt it onto a flat piece of wool fabric, or felt it into a 3-dimensional shape.

Since my sheep are white, so then, is my raw wool.
(except for the stickers, hay & 'stuff' that gets caught in the wool...
I'm one of the best wool-pickers I know!)

So...I have, by trial and error, dyed my own wool roving.
I prefer using Natural materials as dyestuff, and Vinegar as a mordant.

I enjoy the process of walking through my woods and fields, basket in hand, foraging for what Mother Nature has to offer my dye-pot.

Here's a list of my favorite Naturals to dye with:

Acorns ~ tan
Barberry ~ yellow to deep green

Birch ~ shades of brown
Blackberry ~ purple to grey

Bracken ~ yellowish green

Chamomile ~ shades of gold

Coltsfoot ~ greenish yellow
Currants ~ lilac to dark purple

Dandelion ~ shades of yellow
Daylily ~ golds, to blueish grey
Elderberry ~ purple/blue

Goldenrod ~ lemon yellow to gold

Hickory ~ dark tan

Indigo ~ glorious shades of blue!
Grapes ~ brilliant reds to purple

Marigold ~ golden mustard

Stinging Nettle ~ yellows

Raspberries ~ pink

Sassafras ~ reds to almost black

Sumac ~ yellowish tan to grey/brown

Walnut ~ (my favorite to OVERdye with) dark brown to almost black

don't forget to wear gloves when foraging, and especially dyeing,
as most of these plants will stain your skin in their wild-state...

also, remember that color depths will vary, according to your steeping/dyeing time.

So, go for a walk and look at your surroundings in a new way!

what a colorful world we live in!!

Blessed be, Friends...

Lori