Oak Gall - harvested from the wild in Turkey 

Oak Gall, also known as oak apple was and is still used for making ink. We use it as a fibre Mordant, due to its high tannin content. Unlike other tannin, it doesn't stain the fibre.  

Oak Gall is available as whole, cut or ground.

COCHINEAL DYE ~ Dye colours red, pinks to purples

Origin: Canary Islands, Spain. Organically farmed and processed by Canaturex ~ www.canaturex.com

I am so delighted to have finally found some organic Cochineal. Lorenzo is one of the very first offering organic fully traceable Cochineal.

Cochineal is a powerful dye - made from small insects feeding of cacti. The reds and pinks created from this tiny insects are astounding and breathtaking. From deep rich full bodied reds to light fairy like pinks can be created by only one dye bath. 

Cochineal will always dye pinks on plant based fibres.

*Cochineal is the small insect, of which the most commonly cultivated species is Dactylopius. The body of the insect is made of 19–22% carminic acid.

**It takes about 80,000 to 100,000 insects to make one kilogram of cochineal dye. The two principal forms of cochineal dye are cochineal extract, a colouring made from the raw dried and pulverized bodies of insects, and carmine, a more purified colouring made from the cochineal.

Colourfastness: Excellent
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Recipe for Wool Fibres: Downloadable PDF

Recipe For Plant Fibres: Downloadable PDF

Basic recipe:

6% Cochineal
Wool yarn mordanted with Alum 10%


Soak Cochineal in Water overnight
blend using a stick blender

Add dye to dye bath
Bring to a simmer
Remove any black tar like bubbles

Strain through a cloth and keep to the side
Add yarn to bath simmer for one hour.

Add dye bag to second and any following dye baths.