Springsummer2011

ISEND at La Rochelle : Easter 2011 - and spring website update

One of the most exciting gatherings I have ever attended was last month's ISEND (International Symposium and Exhibition of Natural Dyes) at La Rochelle, France. This started on Easter Sunday and continued through the week. Nearly 60 countries were represented by over 400 delegates. Papers covered natural dye history; chemistry; development of machinery and technology in commercial applications; educational projects; natural dyes in high-end fashion etc. There were exhibitions, demonstrations, workshops and excursions. Even though the conference is finished, there is a lot to learn from the ISEND website which is still very much alive. The videos interviews are very interesting.

I have been studying natural dyes for several years, both by using them in my studio work and through historical research into the orchil trade. I have given several papers on my work at conferences and although this was daunting to begin with - I am not an academic - I have benefited hugely from the interest, advice and generosity of many experts in their fields. I presented a poster on my orchil research at ISEND and made intersting new contacts, as well as enjoying the company of neighbours on the poster stands. Below you can see me with Shoko Yade of NPO Earth Network, with her poster on katazome.

I now teach courses on the use and associated history of natural dyes. Researching this has made me aware of the extraordinary work being undertaken all over the world in which imaginative and creative educational projects are using natural dyes as a departure point to connect young people with culture, history, science, maths, botany etc. Look at Silk Road Connect, for instance.This project was briefly outlined by Jenny Balfour Paul in the ISEND indigo session (seen below).

At ISEND my natural dye interests met and merged in one glorious week of encounters, conversations, images and ideas. It will take a long time to digest.The seafood wasn't bad either.

Above: The astonishing work of Dr Ismail Khatri seen at ISEND. Some explanatory images from India here

Above: Natural dyed wool from Etno Botanica, Brazil. Wools were pre-mordanted with tannins before further mordanting and dyeing

Above: The work of Aranya at ISEND. Their inspirational website is here

Above: Patrick Brenac of Couleurs de Plantes at Rochefort explains the company's research, development and natural dye products to participants on one of the three ISEND tours available

Shellfish purple and orchil: a historic combination

Inge Boesken Kanold (above) demonstrated her method of dyeing with shellfish purple at ISEND. You can read about her paintings, her work with the dye and her long years of research here. Inge overdyed a scrap of orchil-dyed silk for me which was very exciting as I have read that this combination was used in ancient times.

Here Inge is holding the orchil-dyed silk, overdyed with purple. In the past this might have been used to produce a cheaper purple, or quite possibly, to cheat the purchaser. Orchil was always the cheaper dye and it would have been hard to tell the difference until later, when the orchil would have begun to fade beneath the shellfish purple.

Indigo in Devon

The last time I updated this page it was freezing here in the South West of England. Now the indigo seedlings are three weeks old and I have started my annual battle with the sparrows. Virtue, it seems, is not its own reward. Having fed our house sparrows all through the hard winter they are now nesting and descending on my cosmos plants, stripping off the outer pith or tweaking off the top pair of leaves. So I have to protect them with nets, or a collar made from a yoghurt pot. Once they are big plants, they are safe. Fortunately sparrows don't seem to like eating indigo seedlings. I have grown it (Persicaria tinctoria - used to be known as Polygonum tinctorium) for several years now without a sparrow problem. I have them in pots still but will plant them out soon.

Indigo seedlings: about a week after planting

Teaching

I have taught at Denman College and West Dean this year and have more courses scheduled for the end of 2011 and in 2012. For information, follow the website links for the colleges. Details are also listed in this column further down the page.

I taught my natural dyes course at Denman and students produced samples on silk and wool with many overdyes (see left). Each student also dyed their own silk scarf .

At West Dean I taught a course on scarves with acid dyes and wax-resist, which I'll repeat next year. And at Dillington House in the autumn I'm offering a natural dyes course similar, but not identical, to the one I teach at Denman.

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