Studio spring clean and an avocado dye bath

Dusting off the cobwebs, washing linen and starting an avocado dye bath. Spring is around the corner and the studio feels a little more alive.

Starting 2017 with an avocado dye felt right because its a classic/ favourite and I had an abundance of stones stored up from over winter. I chop them up so there's a larger surface area in the dye bath and this also gives them chance to oxidise a bit, creating that wonderful orange marble on the stones. This oxidisation also helps to create a deeper shade of colour. Avocado stones can be used again and again and strangely the colour deepens each time, until it is exhausted. A tip I picked up from someone on Instagram recently was that if you put the stones in the freezer then this process is speeded up.

As the pan steamed away that distinctive smell of the tannins filled the room and mixed with the musky scent of dried eucalyptus leaves and I felt at home and ready for a new season of dyeing.