It’s the most wonderful time of the year. The flowering season for Common Reed (phragmites australis) goes away as quickly as Christmas. The purple bushy shoots dye beautiful greens. They need to be used on the same day of picking, which makes the dye season even shorter.
The lakeline near my home is abundant in reeds. The plants I collect from, are smaller than many you can see on sides of roads and on the sea shores, but they still give out great colour. The location of the plants, make them a bit of a challenge for foraging. The last two years, I have resorted to paddle boarding amongst them in my bathing suit which has proved an effective method and quite enjoyable on a hot day.
The dye recipe I use for dyeing with reed is the same as usual. I always pre-mordant my fibres with alum. I simmer the reed shoots for an hour and then add in my material to the purple liquid for another hour of simmering. I leave the blooms in for maximum colour and I always leave the fibres in overnight.
I play around with my quantities of fibre/dye stuff when I dye with reed. This years first dye bath had 100g of Reed flowers and I optimistically added in 100g of wool/bamboo. It started taking on a gorgeous green quite quickly so I added in 40g of merino/nylon and sample of silk. I was very happy with my first dye bath as all the fibres came out in beautiful bright green shades.
Town Dyer 
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