Woad Plant Care Tips On Using Woad Plant Dyes

How do you dye woad plants?
Can you dye with woad seeds?
What Colour dye does the woad plant yield?
How do you extract blue dye from woad?
Is woad a hallucinogen?
How do you dye fabric with woad?
Is woad the same as Indigo?
How do you make a woad ball?
How do you grow woad from seed?
How did the Celts make blue dye?
How do you use welding dye?
How do you harvest dyer's woad?

How do you dye woad plants?

Take the leaves from the base of the plant and then cut them into small pieces. Submerge the torn or cut leaves in a stainless steel pan of water and bring up to a temperature of 175F (80C). Simmer for about 10 minutes. Cool the woad dye down as quickly as possible, so that the leaves don't breakdown too much.

Can you dye with woad seeds?

Woad seeds work amazingly well in direct contact dye applications, even better than the second year stalks and flowers. After doing a basic direct contact dye scarf or piece of fabric, let it dry and make sure to fix the color. Then, re-soak in water and liberally sprinkle woad seeds on the fabric.

What Colour dye does the woad plant yield?

WOAD (Isatis tinctoria)

It is closely related to broccoli and cabbage. Both indigo and woad provide us with a beautiful blue dye. The chemical which gives the blue dye is called indigotin.

How do you extract blue dye from woad?

To extract Woad you need to first infuse leaves in nearly boiling water – preferably soft water such as rain water. After ten minutes the leaves are removed and squeezed of any juice before being discarded on the compost pile.

Is woad a hallucinogen?

"The blue part of the Woad is not any sort of hallucinogen, despite lore to the contrary. The raw sap crushed from fresh Woad leaves sometimes causes surface skin numbness, slight dizziness, and in certain bloodlines, a vague impression of less danger or more confidence.

How do you dye fabric with woad?

Dyeing Techniques

The fermentation removes the oxygen from the vat making the woad soluble. Wool or fabric is dipped into the vat, left for a few minutes, and then removed. At first the wool is pale yellow, but with exposure to air, the colour gradually turns to green and then to blue.

Is woad the same as Indigo?

Indigo is derived from Indigofera plants native to India, especially Indigofera tinctoria, while woad is extracted from the leaves of Isatis tinctoria plants, native to central Asia and widely cultivated across Europe.

How do you make a woad ball?

The woad balls were made by crushing the leaves to a pulp between rollers, draining off any excess liquid, then rolling the pulp into balls, which were laid on racks to be dried. Sometimes woad was traded as balls, which then had to be processed further into couched woad before they were ready for dyeing.

How do you grow woad from seed?

Sown the seed, thinly spaced, in shallow drills directly outdoors or in seed trays. Lightly cover with soil and water well. Easy to grow, Woad germinates in 1 to 2 weeks. Thin or transplant seedlings 30cm (12in) apart when they are large enough to handle.

How did the Celts make blue dye?

It's a big part of pop culture and popular opinion that Celts (especially the Picts) painted themselves blue using a dye from the plant isatis tinctoria (woad). ... All the British color themselves with glass, which produces a blue color.

How do you use welding dye?

1) Dyeing with Dried Weld

Soak the weld in water overnight. Simmer for about an hour but do not allow the weld to boil. Let the dye bath cool and strain and then add fibres and leave them overnight. You can then add more water to the strained weld to try for paler colours.

How do you harvest dyer's woad?

In its first season, dyer's woad grows as a rosette. You can begin harvesting the leaves when the rosette reaches about 8 inches (20 cm.) in diameter. If this is the second year of growth for your plant, you should harvest before it puts up its flower stalk.