The two woad balls are drying slowly, and their outside is turning darker - blackish blue, or so I think.



Woad leaves, I also learned, have a rather characteristic smell... which is quite green, and quite interesting.

Another thing that is currently drying: The first batch of spindle whorls. It's time to make some more hand-formed ones, so I'll be doing that spread out over the next few days.



Which also means that if you have documentation about a (hand-formed) spindle whorl that you'd like to see in my shop, tell me about it! I'll then attempt to make a few approximations, and if they survive firing (which, sadly, can never be guaranteed) you can buy them...

Due to this year's special effects, there's been some more gardening than usual... and there's also been the first proper woad harvest, both seeds from the plants that are now two years old, and leaves from the new plants.

The seeds are beautiful too - I find their colours spectacular:



They are fully dry now, almost falling off the plants by themselves, and some of them are going to find their way into the shop in the next days.

The leaf harvest wasn't huge, but enough for two woad balls, and there's a portion for a third ball currently sitting in a jar, as I want to try fermenting it for a bit before forming the ball.

[caption id="attachment_5428" align="alignnone" width="488"] My very first woad balls! My hands were bright green after making these... and there was even a hint of blueishness to the green after a while.


Now the whole thing has to dry out completely, and then it can be crushed and either couched (a kind of fermentation process) or used straight away for dyeing.

[caption id="attachment_5429" align="alignnone" width="382"] More woad crushed up, and ready to ferment for a bit. (Plus bonus fresh spindle whorls in the background...)


I'm having a lot of fun finally playing around with this!