visit to Bleu de Lectoure, Lectoure, France, April 2011

Rose and I rewarded ourselves for finally completing "The Book" Continuous Strand Weaving Method... by attending the International Symposium and Exhibition on Natural Dyes (ISEND) in La Rochelle, France this past April.  We spent a whole day in Paris and another two days travelling to La Rochelle via Lectoure with a great visit with Denise Lambert of Bleu de Lectoure, from where we order Woad pigment for blue dyes.

The woad plant blooms for only 15 days during its second year growth.  We were there at the perfect time to see the blossoms.  Denise moved her store of woad dyed items from down town Lectoure back to her woad "factory" after Henri passed away this past year.  Did you know that woad seeds contain anti-oxidants and omega-3?  Lotions, creams, and other healthy products are being developed from them.  Look forward to seeing some of these items at Hillcreek Fiber Studio in the future.  Paints, pastel sticks, plastics, horn bracelets, and more are all colored with woad. 

Denise develops her woad vats from a fermentation process.