The Woodland Haberdasher

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The Woodland Haberdasher Wild crafts and workshops https://wakelyns.co.uk/haberdashery/

Shades of Yellow dye workshop today at Cambridge Art MakersSome action shots and some results. Organized chaos as usual ...
11/10/2026

Shades of Yellow dye workshop today at Cambridge Art Makers

Some action shots and some results. Organized chaos as usual 🤣

We had our colours for wool and veg fibres from Tansy, Meadowsweet, Ash, Purging Buckthorn, Gorse, Heather and Weld. Tansy in the pot in photo 1.

We also had a little bit of Saffron for some silk (photo 3). Did you know Saffron is still the most expensive spice in the world, and has the same approximate value per gram as co***ne? For a moment I was unsure what to do with this lot - snort it or pay it into a pension? Luckily the wind blew and it fell in a saucepan so we could use it in the class before my moral compass slipped 🤣

Some of us even came colour co-ordinated for the class (very impressed!) and we tried to play match the dye stuff to the jumper😁

Everyone had free reign on the materials box - Esra chose all the same yarns (Pattons 3ply) so she could have a matching set for knitting, Elly went for a more handspun selection because she wants to weave with them, Steph and Marcia went for a little bit of everything (note the lovely eggy yellow wool fabric at the front of the photo ) and Melissa put a bit of everything in every pot and boom made herself the start of a sample notebook in one afternoon

This is the only dye workshop where I will show you a powerpoint presentation [short one!], and its lovely to talk about specific compounds that give the plants some of their defining characteristics.

Thanks so much ladies for a very enjoyable day 💛💛💛💛💛

Very excited to be at Orchards, Apples and Rural Crafts Day this Saturday, 10-5Filby Village Hall, Main Road, Filby, Nor...
08/10/2026

Very excited to be at Orchards, Apples and Rural Crafts Day
this Saturday, 10-5
Filby Village Hall, Main Road, Filby, Norfolk, NR29 3HN
hosted by Norfolk Wildlife Trust

More details here --> https://www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk/events/2026-10-10-apples-orchards-and-rural-crafts-day

I will be hosting drop an all day drop in workshop where you can make your own Apple wood buttons and crochet hooks - £5pp

There will the usual spoon suspects, and lots of naturally dyed things.

I love Apple so much, it is one of my main woods for haberdashery things and you can get so much out of such small sticks, even the annual watershoot trim is useful.

Unusually, the dye compounds in the leaves and bark are the same so you can use all parts in the same way without having to split them up.
Apple is a warm toned, sunflower petal yellow, with a orange under tone. Any boy is it strong 💪💛

Most fruit trees have some kind of dye in them so I'll have a little display of orchard fruits - Medlar, Pear, Quince and Plum for you to see.

The wood for carving is from a mixture of places - the original 'Ode' photo is a Worcestershire Pearmain from the house I grew up in, but the house I am in now has a little Matsu tree. It is a late dropper, leaf and fruit wise; the apples that made the summer are pretty large for eaters. They also keep well in cold storage, well into the new year. I have a little bag of it's trimmings as well as the Egremont Russet and Lord Lambourne that are at my little cleaning job.
No discernible differences in the wood, but I just think it's nice to know who everyone is. Should I bring apples so you can do a taste and carve along?! 😮 🍏🍎

Anyway . . . Saturday! See you there 💛😁💛

So, whilst still being in the same ball park as the painted riven hurdle but as far away and pressed up against the chai...
06/10/2026

So, whilst still being in the same ball park as the painted riven hurdle but as far away and pressed up against the chain link fence, there is this, the super elegant end of tree pigments.

My first experimental paint palette with the tree colours.
I know nothing about making boxes (at the moment!) so grand ideas of lidded boxes very quickly got put in the bin as I wanted to take it to the NCFed AGM.
I had saved some very special Small Leaved Lime from the Shelley hedge . . . and that idea went in the wood burner as the wood was too soft and I couldn't get a clean cut down with a thin margins between.
The only wood I currently have that might be any good is some mostly dry Hawthorn, from last year's coppice coup at Bradfield. RIP my hands 🪦

Although, as an initial tester I think it went very well. I liked the deep gouging of the individual pans, the Hawthorn took it like a champ.

Did not get a couple of the mixtures quite right so they stayed glossy rather than completely dried out but overall, not bad at all.

This mixture is a re-hydratable one, only a wet paintbrush required.
Happily some paintbrush R&D had been occurring, the winning one was this pony tail hair and Apple wood one. Birch bark tar as the glue also seems to protect the wood when you put it in the water pot - nice.

Colours are not super obvious when they are dry, they are all rather dark, so best to paint yourself a little guide to remember.

I have been enjoying the hell out of myself playing with all of this over the last couple of weeks. Looking forward to working on refining it over the winter a bit more.

Paint and brush making with palette carving workshop anyone?! 🤣

A most excellent weekend National Coppice Federation -NCFed AGM ❤️I went on a workshop with Darren to learn about rivin...
05/10/2026

A most excellent weekend National Coppice Federation -NCFed AGM ❤️

I went on a workshop with Darren to learn about riving Hazel for fence panels.

Safe to say it took a while to get the knack of it, pretty much by the last pole to be split (take note of the broken pile under the bench 😮 ), but it did click eventually 🤣 Darren was very patient . . .

I was especially pleased because I wanted a fence panel to try out the bark paints on.
Thanks to everyone who joined in on Saturday making up colours - we got Walnut, Walnut Fe, Purging Buckthorn, Silver Birch, Blackthorn, Blackthorn Cu, Small Leaved Lime, Sweet Chestnut Fe, Woad (not a tree I know but I wanted some blue) and Sweet Chestnut ground up and painted on.
I will fill in the rest of the panel over this week and then it will sit in the garden until the next AGM to see how it weathers. Can't think of a more perfect way to display that experiment! Will of course show you when it is all filled in too.

Thanks to everyone for such a fun weekend, filled with friendship and camaraderie. It's so important to have people to cross pollinate with - for practical work things and ideas, book and paper suggestions, as well as social things. The weekend was so relaxed it was pretty much horizontal. It was a total winner to take the rocking chair and several cushions 🤣 And I very much appreciate the spoon, paint and yarn sales. It covered the diesel and the gin ❤️

A few lake pigment testers for wood where it has been mixed with Gum Arabic and honey rather than with oil.My don't they...
28/09/2026

A few lake pigment testers for wood where it has been mixed with Gum Arabic and honey rather than with oil.

My don't they dry a lot faster! 💨
Colour is more saturated but it does raise the grain slightly because of the water in the Gum Arabic.
You can layer this colour though, and build up the intensity which you can't really do with the oil version.
There are some other gums I would like to try (and some more lake bases too), but the Gum Arabic has a good gloss when it dries that I think is also a good trait for wood. It can be a little tacky if it's too thick though.

I had less of the original blocks left this time around, and only did 8 colours because I was mixing up the paint for something else, but I now have a good idea of how lakes with Gum Arabic work.

The 2 wood blocks are Alder and Silver Birch, the little bits are Ash lath and the fishes are stripped white Willow (made for me by ).
I think that straight dyeing works best for Willow so far but this version of paint works way better than the oil, you just have to be confident in your brush strokes and not let the paint slide into a corner.

Colours are Holly and Small Leaved Lime in the first photo, then Purging Buckthorn and Blackthorn in the second, Ash and Oak in the third and lastly Silver Birch and Sweet Chestnut.

If you want to come and play with lake pigments and paint making then there is a workshop Cambridge Art Makers in Linton, on Sunday 1st November, 10am - 4.30pm, £80 pp 🎨 🌳 🧹

https://www.cambridgemakers.org/cambridge-art-makers/art-courses-overview/courses-with-cambridge-art-makers/cambridge-art-makers-short-courses-by-category/natural-dyeing/

Autumn/Winter dates for the next few months.Some new venues, and some new workshops as well as a little venture further ...
23/09/2026

Autumn/Winter dates for the next few months.

Some new venues, and some new workshops as well as a little venture further afield (more of this to come in 2027!)

First Lake Pigment workshop with Cambridge Art Makers in November this year.

Events at Jubilee Hall are through my website, all others through the venue listed. Everything is online, up to date and bookable as far as I am aware!

Hurrah!

Walnut bowl progress today (with filming help from Christine, thank-you 😊).After 2 days, everyone is getting that authen...
17/09/2026

Walnut bowl progress today (with filming help from Christine, thank-you 😊).

After 2 days, everyone is getting that authentic workshop feel with woodchips making their way around the hall, under tables and occasionally in their cup of tea.

I am obviously keeping my workspace clean and tidy, just like home 🤣

Pleased with the bowl though. Some bits of finishing to do when its dry but done for now. Time to start another one tomorrow 😁

Lovely and busy this morning, all reset ready for Friday now.

I've been very bad at taking photos the last week or so. There's been a lot going on - bowl carving workshop, Pakenham M...
16/09/2026

I've been very bad at taking photos the last week or so. There's been a lot going on - bowl carving workshop, Pakenham Mill Open Day, a cool Sweet Chestnut that dropped a limb.
Also, a lack of dates for things - nearly there with this - Lake Pigment workshop coming in November at Cambridge Art Makers, and just waiting for the venue to confirm Teaspoon Club bookings then I tell you all about it.

This week I am mostly hanging out at Thetford Open Studios, in the Methodist Hall on Tanner Street. It is open Thurs-Sun. I am there tomorrow and Saturday, display is up on Friday but I am off to Gressenhall Museum on Sunday for spoon carving.

I didn't even take a photo of my own stand today, so here is a picture of my friend Christine instead, who is opposite me.
And a Walnut bowl I am working on :D

I saved this Walnut for the workshop last week, these are the left over blocks. I've had them in a wheely bin of water all summer so they didn't dry out. It's very mellow, and smells like sharp silage.

I've got the lakes paint and wood block display with me, and I am making spoons when needing a rest from the big gouge.
Also putting this monster spokeshave through its paces, its a Marples one I found on ebay, I love it😍

Lots of prints, ceramics, copper, paintings, textiles and willow to see this week.

Woad Wanging today at Worstead Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers in Norfolk 💙💙💙Some serious blues on a whole variety ...
10/09/2026

Woad Wanging today at Worstead Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers in Norfolk 💙💙💙

Some serious blues on a whole variety of fibres. I had a go with some rabbit angora and a few of the fox bones I kept back to see what happened. We had silk, cotton, linen and wool fabrics, different breeds of sheep roving, light and dark as well as all kinds of yarns. Cerulean treasures everywhere.

Most impressed with this blue ombre in some recycled Falcon yarn, 3 distinct shades - azure, watchett and what one of 18thC. French books often call 'Celestial Blue'.

Impressed with the tone on the brown blanket, darker than the white one. Bien.

Thanks for having me ladies, look forward to seeing you all again soon 😁

3 new lake pigment colours on the website this afternoon and the makings of the last Purging Buckthorn batch. Small Leav...
07/09/2026

3 new lake pigment colours on the website this afternoon and the makings of the last Purging Buckthorn batch.

Small Leaved Lime has made the most convincing pink so far, although I am hoping to try some other barks this winter, everyone's favourite chartreuse Purging Buckthorn and Silver Birch leaf yellow.

I found half a jar of Blackthorn orange on Friday when I was putting them in their tins ready for the weekend, I thought the Lime, Birch and Blackthorn colours matched the sun set. Tried to get an arty shot of me holding them up, promptly dropped one of the Blackthorn tins in a non-refundable way. Lesson learnt -_-

Close up of some alum crystals with PB dye. Very jewel like!

The yellow lakes often seem to be quite thick and soupy. They take longer to precipitate, and the water left above has lots of colour left (as opposed the barks that drop quickly). It takes 3 or 4 good rinses for them to thin out suitably. When it's looking more like a sketchy dr's sample than bog water is the time to then filter it out.

Still doesn't always run clear though even when you've done that, although it does go back to a more ethereal green colour.

I know exactly how it works and I still think it's pretty magic 🌟

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Bury St Edmunds

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