February 2010

I finished January with a course at Denman College. On my Design with Silk Painting courses at Denman I try to encourage each student to develop an idea of their own, to work into a scarf. This is sometimes based on something they see in the grounds of the college, or a student may bring an idea along, as with the design based on gingko and papaya leaves below.

Above: a design based on gingko and papaya leaves

All the students on this course were beginners. To begin with they each made a sampler so that they could practise the use of the resist fluid (Cern'O), wax and the dyes. Below a student is painting dye over the waxed section of her sampler.

Above: painting dye onto the waxed area of a sampler

Parcels present, parcels past

If you drop in here regularly you'll know that I have been undertaking some research into the trade in natural dyestuffs of the past. In particular I have been studying the nineteenth century trade in orchil lichen. Orchil dye was used to dye silk and wool purple. It did not need a mordant and so the silk was left lustrous with the beautiful colour that orchil gave.

The archive containing the material I am studying held a collection of orchil lichens from the Canary Islands which was sent to Leeds in the mid 1800s. This is now being studied by a mycologist colleague at The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and we are writing a joint paper on its history. The Canary Islands was a major source for orchil lichens until the early 1800s when over-harvesting demanded that the traders look elsewhere. The trade in lichens is a sorry one environmentally-speaking, and wreaked havoc on the world's gathering sites. Lichen grows very slowly and cannot easily re-establish itself after over-harvesting.

As a result of my studies I have been fortunate to have contact with many experts from the fields of botany, chemistry, historical research and education as well as fellow dyers and artists.

Last year I was contacted from Lanzarote, Canary Islands, by a representative of the Milana Biology Association. The Milana Association's work is in re-evaluating the growing of cochineal on Lanzarote in a project which offers workshops, interpretation events, general education etc. You can see their website here but it is in Spanish. The representative had heard of my orchil research, and its connections with the Canary Islands.

Last week I received a parcel of Lanzarote cochineal which I am sharing with some other dyers so that we can report back to Lanzarote on its quality.