questions

Yarn

All our yarns are sourced through British suppliers

Our Blue Faced Leicester and Shetland yarn is all grown by UK farmers who sell to the British Wool Marketing Board.

We are licensed by the BWM to carry their woolmark, which certifies that the origin of our wool is the UK.

Our Mohair is also UK grown.

All our exotic yarns apart from silk are grown and spun in Peru.

Our silk comes from India.

We do not dye cashmere or cotton, both these fibres are grown in some countries that have appalling human rights records, it would be very difficult for us to trace the exact source of the raw fibre, so we choose not to dye them just in case.

We do not have a range of organic yarn, mainly due to the cost of the undyed yarn.

Sheep, goats and alpacas are grazing animals they generally lead a cruelty free lifestyle and have an additive free diet. In fact the main difference between organic sheep and non-organic sheep is the medical treatment they receive.

Dyes

All our dyes and mordants are sourced through a UK supplier.

We only use plant materials, such as wood chips, chopped roots and leaves.

We do not use natural dye extracts, as the raw materials are processed to turn them into extracts and as far as I am concerned is a totally un -necessary process.

We only use cream of tartar and alum as mordants.

Alum (a rock salt) is slightly abrasive in its crystal form however totally harmless when dissolved in water.

Cream of tartar is used in cake baking.

We do NOT use any of the metal mordants such as tin, copper, chrome and iron, some of which are very toxic and all of which should not be poured into the water system.

I believe it is better to lose a few colours from my range, than use ingredients that are harmful.

All our spent dye material is composted and then used on our organic dye garden, the plants of which are then eaten by the organic wild rabbits, so please don't expect to see beautiful dye plants if you visit the farm.

The Farm

Originally Moors farm was bought by the government and farmed by the local prison, just before it closed down 11 years ago the prison used it to farm pigs.

Our showroom and office is the old Victorian stable block from the original farm and our dyeroom and storeroom are two of the old farrowing units.

As you can imagine we have no heating, except for a halogen heater and oil filled radiator, both of which live in the office as its freezing here when the east wind blows across the north sea.

We do move our heaters to the showroom when we know we have visitors coming, but pleased be prepared if you visit you may need to wear your woolly knickers.

Some of our light fittings are 1950's and need replacing however we do use energy saving light bulbs when ever possible.

We recycle tins, glass and paper/cardboard.

Our milk is delivered by an old fashioned milk man who takes the glass bottles away to be sterilized and reused.

Most of our office paper waste is shredded and added to the compost heap to help feed the rabbits.

Staff & Village Community

The whole of the staff of The Natural Dye Studio live within 2.5 miles of the farm.

Heidi (our furthest commuter) lives just over 2 miles away, and would like to state she has a very economical car.

I live in one of the old farm worker's houses, which makes my commute to work at least 2 minutes.

All our post is sent through the village post office.

It is a bit antiquated, has Wednesday half day closing and is shut over the weekend, but our use of the Post Office helps keep it open, which is an essential part to village life.

Plus Heidi and I like to support the village shop's chocolate biscuit shelf.

Our local environment is very important to us, we live on Suffolk's heritage coast, an area of outstanding natural beauty. And so The Natural Dye Studio sponsors a Hebridean sheep called Bracken, she belongs to The Suffolk Wildlife Trust and is kept for grazing the local heaths and forestry land, please visit their site for more information.

We also sponsor a woman from Afghanistan through the Women for Women charity.