There is an ‘all day’ ticket for all four talks, or you can book in for individual speakers here Susan Dye 3.00 pm – 4.00 pm Growing and Using your own Dye Garden Luisa Aribe 1.30 pm – 2.30 pm An Indigo Journey Isabella Whitworth 11.30 am – 12.30 pm Pursuing Purple: Shellfish, Lichen and Mauve You can Insta-follow me on and The Loom Shed at Loom Shed Online Natural Dye Symposium ProgrammeĪviva Leigh 10.00 am – 11.00 am Strips, Stripes and Satins – Exploring 18th Century Norwich Textiles On June 10th at 12.45 pm I will be doing an Instagram Live with Liz Croft. There is also a varied programme of speakers and courses and you can look at their Events page to see the latest listings. It was decided to hold the event online this year but in the future there will be dye-related workshops and events at The Loom Shed itself, which is located in East Devon. The Natural Dye Symposium is on June 26th and will offer a day of talks by four specialist natural dye speakers. My findings very unexpectedly linked two other famous purple dyes: Imperial or Tyrian Purple, and Perkin’s Mauve. If you follow my blog you’ll know I became particularly intrigued by the dye trade in lichen, historically used for making a purple dye called orchil. My talk Pursuing Purple: Shellfish, Lichen and Mauve will follow some of the dye trails I discovered when researching a nineteenth century industrial archive. Both Laura and Liz are passionate about yarn craft and the benefits to mental health that craft work can bring. The Loom Shed has been set up by Louise Cottey, weaver and tutor, and Liz Croft, crochet specialist, weaver and tutor. But weaving isn’t all that’s planned at this new and imaginative venue.

What is The Loom Shed? Well, it’s a shed and it has looms in it. Left: Perkin’s mauve centre, Tyrian purple threads and murex shells right orchil lichen, orchil-dyed silk and woolĪt the end of the month I’ll be taking part in an online symposium run by The Loom Shed.

Download real tyrian purple