FáILTE! (Welcome) To the very first issue!

Don’t you just love dried plants hanging in threshold? The dried  Mexican marigolds, weld, carrot tops, avocado skins, madder root and others drew me in to Malú’s studio.  Whether their alchemy serves for herbal medicine or in this case for colour, there’s a  tangible charm about the presence of drying plants.  I must mention  the crossovers too: how medicinal is it to  literally cloth yourself in Mother Earth? The earth touches us with warmth and comfort. The plants are natural givers.

Ways to well-being

Nurture a symbiotic reciprocal relationship with the plant world, you might spend time with plants other than to harvest them. Always leave some for the bees and butterflies when you are foraging.  Appreciation is a positive presence and to ‘Take Notice’ and ‘To Connect’ are two of the Five Ways to Well-being.

Fibreshed

Malú Colorín is a natural dyer with a dye house and educational hub called Talú. Her ethos lies in regenerative practice, community, slow fashion and circular economy. She is a member of Fibreshed Ireland. This is an initiative that began in California. It aims to produce textiles within a local radius using natural dyes and natural textiles; a soil to soil practice. It builds awareness on what resources there are in a geographical region and fosters improvement.

Malú is one of seven Fibreshed team members who are all spread across the country. Anyone with an interest in textiles can join their annual membership. They currently have approx 140 businesses/people. In a country so full of sheep, most of our wool is wasted. These issues are looked at. There is no facility to scour (wash) wool. The wool which is utilised is sent across the sea to England and then sent back again. This leaves a carbon footprint trail that could be avoided. We once had a rich and active wool economy in Ireland, which then changed to meat production. 

Innovative Indigo

Malú welcomed us in to her converted barn to dye studio in the Glen of Imaal. I was with my three year old daughter Ayla.  Malú offered Ayla paper and some fabulous crayons  that she had made herself from the pigments of the plants.  I couldn’t resist trying a line myself.  Indigo ink caught my attention.

Malú had a sizeable indigo dye vat in her studio. Most often made from the non-invasive indigofera tinctoria (from India), persicaria tinctoria (from Japan) or woad – isatis tinctoria (from Europe). Malú’s is made from Japanese indigo (persicaria tinctoria) grown in the South of France.

Lake pigments

The blue in The Book of Kells still holds the blue colour of woad. It is clear that natural dyes last! Some natural dyes do change over time. This change speaks of the aliveness of Nature. It adds more interest to the story of loved materials, art, and crafts. Lake pigments are made from plant residue, bound to a mordant such as metallic salt, which forms a powder.  Paints, inks, and crayons can be made from the powder.

Malú showed me a wonderful green lake pigment drying, made from weld.  I was then blessed with watching the process of extracting pigment from an avocado dye liquid. By adding alum and diluted soda ash, the liquid becomes cloudy and the pigment falls to the bottom. Once settled, the liquid can be funnelled out. A coffee filter or cheesecloth can catch the tiny grains of pigment.

Varying shades of red

A humming sound took my attention to a madder root bath brewing on a hot plate.  This, Malú shared, was for a personal project. Malú was dying yarns in varying levels of red shades. She will be knitting these into a jumper. That to me is a valuable gift of self-kindness and self-love with the added element of Nature co-creating.  What about yourself dear reader? Is there something you can gift yourself with, from Nature’s bounty?

At the back of the room were many containers of leftover dyes. Malú would implement these for her project. Yarns whose base colour varied from white to beige to grey would also be knitted in. There are containers of saved dye which Malú can use should a client not require an exact shade.  If clients are looking for something specific, Malú starts a colour from scratch. Her clients range from those sending yarns to be dyed, to those who send full-made clothes to be dyed.

Mindful activity of care

The wild clay vessels gathered in a local lake charmed me. As did found material in bags and jars and off cuts of fabric tied as bunting over the worktop tables.  I received an alter like feeling from the containers of plant material. An aura that radiates when activity is done in mindfulness and thought for life other than oneself. As mentioned before, care for self is kind and essential. We can’t care for what’s around us if we don’t care for ourselves too, right?

The Gift Economy

Malú and I chatted about the process  of dying wool straight from the sheep’s back with plant material.  The idea of ‘The Gift Economy’ graced our conversation thanks to Malú. Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of Braiding Sweetgrass, speaks and writes about this concept.  What followed in the weeks after was Malú practicing the concept of the gift. She offered her expertise to the group by demonstrating from start to finish the process of dyeing wool.  We used wool which was sourced from a local farmer during the demonstration over 3 sessions in An Tearmann. Another member Eleanor Sunderland then demonstrated spinning this dyed wool on the wheel and taught us hand spinning techniques. It was amazing to experience this process from start to finish from the ground up.

Until the next issue- Whatever you do make sure to gift to the plant community. It will also be a gift to yourself. Connect through noticing for restoration of body, mind, and spirit and a reprieve from Direct Attention Fatigue. Give your brain a break, keep it healthy.