August
The garden is in full colour and it’s been a month of harvesting, drying, processing and sorting for Winter’s dye pots and next year’s harvest.
Susie x
Newsletters are published through my mailing list. To be the first to hear about studio updates, new recipes and garden development subscribe here.
01. Garden
This month I’ve found so much inspiration in other gardens, though the sweetest and most cottagey idyll at Charleston House in Sussex, former home of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, the wild planting of Piet Oudolf at the Hauser & Wirth in Somerset, and at the Eden Project in Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg’s Pollinator Pathway. Three very different approaches to garden design, from traditional to naturalistic to algorithmic, I found something in each that I hope will inspire next year’s dye garden.
A flax update! In the last week of July the flax had begun to yellow and the seed bolls had formed. I pulled the flax up by it’s roots, tied it into bundles and left it to dry upright for a couple of weeks before the seeds could be processed. Rippling is the process of passing the flax over a wide comb to remove the seed bolls from the fibrous stems. The stems can go to be retted and the seed crushed and winnowed to save for next year. There is a solidity to the series of processes working flax, in following the age-old methods, by hand and without machines. Next is the retting stage which I’ll write about next month!
![Homemade Rippling Comb, Nordic Pine and Stainless Steel]()
![Flax seeds part-way through Winnowing, the chaff is carried away by the wind.]()
02. Studio
This month I hosted my first Open Studio with my aunt Deborah Mitchell and her pots. It was the loveliest weekend with new and old faces popping by for coffee and cake and dyes and pots, we’re hoping to do another soon!
To be notified of open studios, subscribe here.
From 19th August to 16th September, I’ll be down in St. Ives with Darn & Friends, alongside a thoughtful curation of local makers and sustainable small brands will be a Summer workshop programme with local craftspeople sharing their skills and knowledge. For the full details of the programme, workshop booking and events head to the Darn website.
I’ll be teaching an Introduction to Natural Dyeing Workshop on September 11th, 11am-1pm. As an accessible and playful intro to the techniques of natural dyeing, together we’ll be exploring techniques of bundling to create uniquely patterned and vividly coloured silks from nature. Each workshop guest will take home their own naturally dyed silk kerchief, ready to wear! Tickets are £25 each and hope to see you there!
