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Flax Top – Woods
100% Flax (linen) fibre.
Deep and rich dark teal.
PRODUCT of ITALY
Flax Top – Theatre
100% Flax (linen) fibre.
Very dramatic and vibrant royalty purple. A solid tone, despite our bad photo. Staple length is about 4 inches.
PRODUCT of ITALY
Flax Top – Bleached
100% Flax (linen) fibre.
Very clean combed top in a fairly narrow sliver, bleached to a bright ivory white. Staple length is 5 to 6 inches.
This may be a good choice for those curious to try spinning flax for the first time. Our supplier suggests it can be either dry or wet-spun and no distaff is needed since it's already in a well-prepared form. It feels pretty soft for flax. Anybody up for the challenge?
The various dyed colourways we carry begin with bleached flax, since it provides a good white base that won't lend the brown or tan tones that natural flax would give. Since this is a plant or cellulose fibre dyers must use fibre reactive dyes. Natural dyers must resort to techniques used on cotton, such as alum-tannin premordanting, or Aluminum acetate. Flax strikes just fine in an indigo vat.
That being said, when blended with protein fibres, acid dyes will leave the flax alone during dyeing, which makes for some wonderful streaky or heathered effects, depending on how well the fibres are blended.
PRODUCT of ITALY
Logwood, Chips
Dried and cured chips from a tropical tree, Haematoxylum campechianum.
Use on protein or cellulose fibres. Pre-mordanting essential. Produces dramatic pink, blue, maroon and purple to black shades. Use at 20-50% WOF for medium shades.
TO USE: place chips in a stocking and soak overnight in cold water. Bring to a simmer for 1 hour, cool and remove stocking. Enter premordanted fibre and simmer for 1 hour. Bath may be used for successive dips, and by the 3rd or 4th dip the colours being yielded change to golds, greens or browns.
Light and washfastness: average. Keep dyed fibres away from bright light.
NEW: Logwood Extract: this has already been soaked out then reduced down to a powder. It's expensive but very strong and super convenient. Simply weigh out the extract at around 10% weight of fibre for medium shades, or adjust for darker or lighter. Dissolve in a measuring cup with hot (but not boiling) water, add to your dyepot with water, mix well, add your fibre and simmer for an hour.
