Allan Brown Madder and Woad

As part of my artist development for From Soil to Cloth, I attended a one-to-one workshop with nettle artist Allan Brown to learn how to dye with Woad and Madder.

Allan Brown uses locally grown fibres and dyes to create his own ethical and sustainable textiles. He was drawn to nettle on a walk through his local woods, the mystery of making fibre from the plant led him to dedicating seven years creating a woven dress entirely out of nettle. The story and process has recently been created into a film called the nettle dress.

In the workshop we foraged for home-grown madder and woad growing in his allotment and back garden. I had prepared skeins of linen, tencel and swatches of cotton fabric which I brought with me to dye. We washed the plants and chopped them up before boiling them, adding in the correct chemicals and quantities to produce the dye. We soaked fabrics and yarns in the dye vat multiple times to strengthen the colour.

Woad produces a blue dye and madder creates a beautiful rich red.

Woad seeds

Madder root

Woad leaves

madder dye bath

woad dye bath

whisk the woad dye to add oxygen

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