The Vanishing Art of Broom Making …
Broomcorn, broomsticks, turkey wing whisk brooms, hearth brooms, kitchen brooms, angel whisk brooms, broomstick cake and more all in a new book by basket maker, gourd artist and broom maker Karen Hobbs. “Swept Away, the Vanishing Art of Broom Making” is scheduled to be released this December (2017). Read more
This post will wrap up my Dyeing Reed 101 series…
Today I am writing about the three types of dyes that work on reed and wood: direct, reactive and natural. Part I and II provided background for dyeing. If you haven’t read them you may find it helpful to start there. Dyeing Reed -Part I and Dyeing Reed Part II
Okay, here is Part II of Dyeing Reed 101. I was going to wrap Dyeing 
Reed 101 up with this post, however, Part II, grew to way over a thousand words – – – now there is also a Part III!
And things change – while I was writing about types of dyes I realized that I should talk more about colorfastness and using mordants, fixatives and surfactants before I talk about dye.
I don’t claim to be an expert on dyeing, however over the years I have dyed a lot of stuff (basket related and not), I have used a lot of different dyes – natural, all purpose, direct and reactive, I have dyed natural (protein and cellulose) materials and synthetics, trial and error (failure and success) have been good teachers and I have also done a lot of research. Dyeing is a science; so while there are different ways to dye reed, understanding the science of dyeing will help you have better results.
Whether you use an all purpose dye, direct dye, reactive dye or even a natural dye, I hope you find this article helpful.
I am so excited that Angie Longenecker Wagner from The Country Seat, Inc. agreed to let me interview her. This family business in Kempton, Pennsylvania was established in 1975 by Angie’s mother, Donna Longenecker, as a seat weaving company. It quickly became a supply store for seat weavers and basket weavers.
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Here it is the first week of December with a dusting of snow on the ground … a good time to talk about Christmas baskets and ornaments. I’ll share my favorites and you share yours. All I need is the name of the basket or ornament and the designer; however if you have a picture and a link would be wonderful and I’ll be happy to publish them as well. Read more
