Nature’s Rainbow – May 2022 meeting

Susan Dye from Nature’s Rainbow will be giving a talk on growing plants for natural dyeing at our May meeting. See below for further details.

Also the summer competition will be launched and there’ll be social crafting in the morning. Bring along your latest project to show off or to ask advice.

Regular Features:

• Bring and Brag table – bring something you have recently finished or are still working on to share your progress.
• Sales Table – You are invited to bring craft related and other items for sale. Please, no jumble. 20% of sales goes to the Guild.
• Raffle – we generally have 3 craft related prizes.

TIME/FORMAT:     11.00am – 4.00pm

11.00 – 12:30 Craft and Chat
12:30 – 1:15 Lunch
1.15 – 2.00 Show and Tell, Guild notices and discussions
2.00 – 3.30 Speaker Susan from Natures Rainbow will be talking to us about growing plants for natural dyeing.
3.30 – 4.00 Raffle, tidy up
If attending the afternoon session (which starts from 2.00pm, we would be grateful if you could arrive from 1.30pm for a 2.00pm start

FACILITIES:    Free Parking.  The new one way entrance to the parking is from Banks Road (for those of you with satnav, check as it could send you down Crossways!).   WiFi. Disabled access.  Teas/Coffees,  Cakes and Biscuits.

GUILD MEMBERS :    Free – meetings attendance is included in annual membership fee.

VISITOR COST:       £5.00 per visitor, per meeting

Guest speaker: Susan Dye, from Nature’s Rainbow

Talk: Dye Plants for Textile Crafters

There is a particular satisfaction and freedom in growing your own dye plants. Even a small growing space can provide a significant amount of dye if you select your plants carefully and nurture them well. Drawing on over 15 years’ experience of dye gardening in Hitchin, Susan and her husband Ashley maintain a comprehensive website on dye plant horticulture at www.naturesrainbow.co.uk. This talk will introduce you to the ‘Grand Teint’ dye plants of madder, woad and weld, so you can ‘grow your own’ bright, fast colours along with tips on how to make the most of your harvest.You needn’t have a large growing space to achieve good colour and part of the talk we will see Susan’s patio where an abundance of plants grow.

Article in the Journal of AWSD
https://journalwsd.org.uk/article/the-dye-plant-garden