I realised a little late that I should have picked my woad earlier. But decided I had nothing to lose by picking it now.
Then the chopping…
Then the vat. How blue should the froth be, to be blue enough? These are the questions that plague my blue-dyeing!
Eventually, I had a vat. The wool came out the same colour it was when it went in. The second vat had a lot more leaf to the same volume of water.
I ended up with some blue-pale blue-bluish wool.
And some silk thread that is more of a silver grey. I swear it was blue after the second vat, but either subsequent re-dips stripped the colour back out, or it was fugitive. Or I dreamed it. Well, they do say that woad doesn’t bear much indigotin, and harvesting in winter is not ideal. But, am I allowed to be a bit disappointed anyway?
Local & Bespoke 
I see that Jenny Dean comments that leaves picked after October (translating that as autumn for us) don’t yield much colour. Still very disappointing. 😢
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Yes, she is right as usual! Next time I will have to pay more attention!!
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I’ve had the same experience. And the 2nd year plants are also no good.
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So sad! A case of delay really being a problem. I am glad to say dyeing with the seeds is good fun.
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mmmm glad my chickens like to eat it and i do look forward to the flowers but I too have had no blue 😦
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Sorry to hear it! But now I know what to try next…
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PS my chickens like it too. Especially chatty pants.
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My hens eat it too. I was not sure when to harvest mine but guess I’d better do it in the next few weeks or I’ll miss the October deadline. It seems a bit scarey, but I am trying to find out as much as possiblr first.
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I also find the blue dyeing a bit intimidating and that is one reason I put woad harvest off. So don’t follow my example! Be bold and give it a go. I do think the simpler method I used worked pretty well so you might like to search the blog and follow the link to that one–much simpler and less toxic than a thio vat, for example. But maybe you’re going with the traditional vats…
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I will look up your simpler method – thanks for the tip
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Yes, disappointing……..woof
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Harrumph. Woof!
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