Over the last few weeks I have been reflecting on the ethics of what I'm doing as part of my research and development. I'm beginning to feel a little uneasy about foraging for natural materials, despite only ever collecting small handfuls of plant matter. I'm feeling grateful that I now have the allotment to grow my own plants for natural colour making, however it means that this process just got a whole lot slower. It's been important for me to go back to the beginning and r

This week I've been at Bloom Sheffield to take part in a natural dye workshop led by artist Charlie Hill. The workshop began with a walk in Cat Lane Wood to forage for hawthorn berries and oak galls. It was here that I got the chance to see a cherry gall for the first time! We learnt about winter tree identification and found lots of jelly ear fungi. The woods sit next to the Heeley & Meersbrook allotment site, home to two of Bloom Sheffield's allotment plots. Heeley & Meersb

This week I have started my natural colour making experiments, using the petals of dye plants that I had grown last year at Long Eaton Community Garden such as safflowers and zinnias. I experimented with alum, soda ash, citric acid and iron modifiers to change the colours of the dyes. I found that I had added too much water and the dyes needed concentrating down to make inks. I had also made the mistake of storing my dried dyestuff in plastic bags and as you can imagine had g