Studio Notes
Posted 14 March
Most people who walk into the Woodstock studio already have a picture in their head. It is usually a wall, a corner, or a room that feels unfinished. What they do not have yet is a sense of how the piece gets made, or how long the dye actually takes. So before we talk about size or cord, we usually work through the same handful of questions.
A small wall hanging can be knotted in a few evenings, but the dyeing sets the pace. Indigo needs to oxidise between dips, and madder root wants a slow, warm bath. A three-dip indigo panel takes about two weeks from first vat to finished fringe. If you have a date in mind, tell us early, because the dye does not move faster just because a deadline is close.
No, and that is part of the work. Onion skin gives a different amber depending on the season and the skins themselves. Madder shifts with water and temperature. We send wet samples so you can see the real tone on real cord, but the finished piece will sit somewhere near it, not on top of it.
Often, yes. The Saturday sessions run for eight people and cover knotting basics, dye-bath prep and finishing, with materials included and the piece going home with you. If your project is small, a workshop is a better fit than a commission. If it is a long wall or a set of twelve, it is not.
Nothing goes in the bin. Short lengths become small plant holders sold at the studio door, and the last of a dye bath goes onto a spare length of hemp cord. Clients sometimes ask to keep the offcuts from their own commission, which we are happy to do if you say so before we start cutting.
Most enquiries arrive with the same handful of worries, and they are fair ones. People want to know how a plant dye behaves over time, whether a wall hanging will survive a humid coastal room, and how much of the process they actually get a say in. I keep a notebook of these questions and answer them the same way I would at the studio door.
The short version: madder root and onion skin both shift with washing, indigo holds firm but softens at the edges, and hemp cord outlasts cotton in a sunny spot. If a piece is going above a fireplace or into a guest room with sea air, that changes the cord and the knot spacing. Bring the measurements and a photo of the wall, and we can talk through what will actually work.