Last spring I purchased woad seeds from Richters Herbs ( Then later got razzed by a friend for paying good money for weeds, when she knew someone who has way, way, more seeds, than she could ever hope to plant.) Any how they grew fairly well in the full sun spot where I planted them. Then, after spending all that time growing them and tenderly weeding them, I decided to rush right in and try to dye some wool using a direct dye method outlined in Rita Buchanan's "A weavers garden". To be fair she does say that results can vary in a range from brown-blue to grey-blue, but what I unfortunetly got was a very light tan with lovely greeny yellow over tones (that mostly washed out)
Needless to say whatever I did or did not do wrong, I will not be repeating this rash and direct method again. In a few days or a few weeks if the weather is fair, just before the first frosts I will gather all the leaves that have regrown on the plants and extract the indigo pigments to be used in a "sig vat" later... then maybe I will have some images of success to show. Till then here are some glimpses of the whole sad affair.
"Some days you get the bear, some days the bear gets you."
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