The search for the perfect blue with precious woad seed donated by Professor Hill in particular has been very inspiring to me. I found the historic links to the Picts, ancient Britons and medieval natural dyes made in the UK fascinating. A marriage of old and new growing and dyemaking techniques during 2021 has proved to be incredibly rewarding on a personal level.
The original woad seed I grew this season was collected from nearby one of the last woad farms in England by Dr Hill sr. in 1915, when he was a teenager. https://docksci.com/dr-robin-hill-natural-dyes_5bb1ed39d64ab20ba16fd5de.html
Grown on and selected for dyemaking for over 50 years the tradition was carried forward by his son, Prof David Hill, and later used as part of a European project to look at the viability of woad growing at agricultural scale.
This year spring arrived late and I started woad and Japanese indigo seed in trays under cover to help germination in the cold weather. The ‘woadlings’ took off when in the earth thanks to one of the hottest summers in years. I continued on to extract the pigment and trial several methods of dyeing silk and wool. The simplest ancient use of the fresh leaves appealed to me in the medieval walled garden setting, requiring few ingredients but lots of patience, observation and elbowgrease!
It is my hope to continue growing this rare accession of woad, Japanese indigo and other dyeplants like madder and weld to provide primary colours for seasonal dyemaking at the walled garden. With this in mind I have opened a short questionnaire to help gauge interest , plan the dyeplant garden & facilities for workshops beginning in the spring of 2022. Would love to hear your views if you can spare a couple of minutes? https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/9HRCF8K
Kirsty Sutherland
Botanical Prints and Natural Dyes 