It’s no secret that I love colour.  I go through colour phases, but in general I do tend to be drawn to quite strong colour, I’m not really a sugary pastels kind of girl, though I do like subtle, natural colours and of course anything that echoes the sea and seashore always gets me excited.

I’m a member of the Wigtownshire Guild of Spinners, Weavers and Dyers and not long after I joined, I was introduced to the joys of using acid dyes.  These are dyes that are used with natural protein based fibres, so that’s silk, wool and other animal fibres such as cashmere, alpaca, etc.  You need a different type of dye for cellulose based fibre such as cotton or linen.

Since then, I’ve been reading books about dyeing, watching videos, taking more classes, learning about shibori and I am absolutely in love with the process.  I’ve learned how to use reactive dyes for the plant based stuff too and can’t wait to experiment more with it.

This silk scarf is probably my favourite so far.  I has a soft aqua colour in the middle, graduating to a darker teal at the edges, with stripes that echo waves and a border design created by tying the fabric around pieces of sea glass.

I made this for my Mum’s birthday, but very nearly kept it myself, so my challenge now is to see if I can replicate the design again!