25th April 2016
Over the years, on this blog, we’ve discussed many aspects of William Morris’ life and the achievements he had and the designs he produced, however one aspect of these designs he produced as part of Morris & Co. is the techniques he used to print these, in terms of his dyeing method. These methods are complex and took a great level of skill from Morris, whenever we research something in his life that he dedicated such lengths of time to becoming a master at it, we always wonder how he got so much done in his 62 years; from his university degree from Oxford, to becoming an architect, artist, designer, poet… the list goes on!
His research into the use of natural dyes are amongst the most remarkable of these achievements; without becoming a master at these, he wouldn’t have been able to produce the beautifully intricate designs that that he did, in the colour ways and depths that he did. As with many of the crafts he took up, he viewed the dyeing method as endangered and fought to revive it; he spoke so passionately about it, in such a detailed manner that his daughter May said of his essay, “Of Dyeing as an art” that once read, even a complete novice would be able to produce these colours from the dye-pots after reading it!
What Morris wanted to achieve were naturally brilliant, fast yet soft colours, which were hard at the time as dyes were made by commercial aniline dyes made from coal tar which produced harsh strident colours. Morris hugely disliked these colours, not just for their colouring but for how they reacted in the years after printing as they changed beyond recognition and faded with time.
During this time, since these aniline dyes were so popular, Morris had to go back to the start and so researched French dyers’ manuals. When May Morris spoke about this period, she recalled how she’d spent time with her father reading Gerard’s “Herbal,” she said how influential this was on Morris and compares Lily as reminiscent of Gerard’s work.
Morris also reached out to George Wardle who was his business manager, who’s family were originally silk dyers, so George’s brother Thomas, who was based in Leek, Staffordshire who printed many of Morris’s chintzes before he moved to Merton Abbey. He was therefore able to help out Morris in his quest to become skilled in the craft, and eventually Morris devised his formula for vegetable dyes; from the book, “William Morris” by Helen Dore, we know what he used to create these colours, “blue from indigo and woad; red from the insects kermis and cochineal and the plant madder; yellow from the weld, poplar, osier, birch, broom and quercitron; brown from walnut tree roots.” We know this due to the detail he wrote about it in his Arts and Crafts essay.
Indigo, which he used to print designs such as Eyebright, Strawberry Thief and Brother Rabbit, was the trickiest to use; it actually took three days to prepare and had to be extremely accurate; it was therefore the most arduous and time consuming method. We can learn of the complete process he used from his writings in an early 20th century Morris and Co. catalogue, “The cloth is first dyed all over in an indigo vat to a uniform depth of blue, and is then printed with a bleaching reagent which either reduces or removes the colour as required by the design. Mordants are next printed on the bleached parts and others where red is wanted, and the whole length of the material is then immersed in madder vat calculated to give the proper tint. This process is repeated for the yellow, the three colours being superimposed on each other to give green, purple and orange. All loose colouring matter is then cleared away and the colours are set by passing the fabric through soap at almost boiling point. The final treatment in the process is to lay the cloth flat on the grass, with its printed face to the light, so that the whites in the designs may be completely purified, and all fugitive colour removed in nature’s own way.”
The indigo discharge method carried on into when Morris moved into Merton Abbey, the advantage of ready-built premises, soft water and beautiful surroundings made Merton Abbey a productive and enjoyable place to work, the water perfect for use for the dye. “The move to Merton Abbey began in June 1881 with the erecting of fabric and carpet looms, the equipping of the glass painters’ shop and setting up of dye vats and printing tables and it was not until 1882 that indigo discharge dying was put into production. Indigo discharge cottons are easy to recognise as the blue dye can always be seen on the back of the cloth.”- William Morris Textiles, Linda Parry. By that December, William Hillier, the firm’s blocker had successfully printed Brother Rabbit, which is one of our latest, and most loved design for Laura’s Beau.
Posted in News by Laura
Beautiful floral magic by William Morris, why do you think his designs are so timeless? 🌿
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#williammorris #williammorrisfabric #williammorrisdesign #williammorrisfabrics #fabric #heavyweight #heavyweightfabric #upholsteryfabric #teatowels #floraldesign
Gorgeous William Morris Golden Lily, it always brightens up the dining room when it’s on the table ☀️ Which is your favourite Morris design for on your table? 🫶🏻
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#williammorris #williammorrisfabric #williammorrisfabrics #morrisfabric #morrisfabric #fabric #goldenlily #tablecloths #smallbuisness #independantbusiness #womanownedsmallbusiness
Our French floral designs are stunning, we’ve got a French archive which dates to the late 1800s- early 1900s which is jam packed full of beautiful designs that are lovingly kept in the archive 🫶🏻 We wanted to recolour a few into this gorgeous sage green colour, mainly because, in honestly, it’s my wedding colours and I wanted to have them on my wedding table - perks of the job! 👰🏽 So these are our designs Dot, Jean and Hearts & Kisses, three of our top favourites out the archive 🌿 We love seeing them restored back to life, the colours vibrant once more, we can just imagine them in the French countryside as they once maybe were, now we produce them as fat quarters which all tone together beautifully for quilting projects - we’d love to see what you make with them, don’t forget to tag us! 🫶🏻
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Cutting gorgeous William Morris Lily today, did you know we sell all our fabrics by the half meter? So projects big or small, we’ve got you covered! 🫶🏻
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POV: you’ve always got some sort of fresh flowers and a sweet treat on the table 🫶🏻
design on the table today is our beautiful William Morris Brother Rabbit Red 🐰
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Back in stock 🌿 Our Strawberry Thief blue oven gloves (and placemats too!) 🍓 a stunning addition to every kitchen 🫶🏻
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Bringing timeless elegance to the kitchen with our William Morris Strawberry Thief red oven glove and matching tea towel 🍓🕊️ The perfect blend of beauty and function—who said everyday essentials can’t be art? 🫶🏻
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#WilliamMorris #StrawberryThief #KitchenStyle #HeritagePrint #BritishDesign #CottagecoreKitchen #KitchenInspo #TimelessDesign #TextileArt #HomeDetails #MorrisAndCo #FloralPrint #OvenGloveStyle #TeaTowelLove #PatternedKitchen
🎉 GIVEAWAY TIME! 🎉
Win 2 meters of the stunning William Morris “Daisy” fabric – perfect for your next sewing or home décor project! 🌼✨
To enter:
1️⃣ Like this post
2️⃣ Follow us
3️⃣ Tag a friend who loves fabric as much as you do!
📅 Winner announced 1st July
Good luck! 💛🌼
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50% off Daisy heavyweight and cotton fabric?! 🌼 Oopsy Daisy we printed too much, so there’s now 50% off this incredibly beautiful William Morris design- what are you waiting for! 🫶🏻 This was the first design William Morris ever produced so it remains an incredibly special one, and such a timeless design, it’s perfect for quilting and crafting, the heavyweight is brilliant for light upholstery and curtain making! 🌿 Heavyweight is now £4 for half a meter and cotton is £3.50 for half a meter 🤯
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✨ Timeless beauty for your kitchen ✨
Our Pimpernel Green tea towel and oven glove bring the iconic elegance of William Morris into your everyday. Perfect for adding a touch of Arts & Crafts charm to your home 🌿
Available now in our shop!
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If you had to guess our favourite colour combo? 🫶🏻 Beautiful Brother Rabbits on the table today along with some stunning blue and white blooms 🤍
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#blueandwhiteforever #blueandwhitedecor #blueandwhitehome #williammorris #williammorrisdesign #brotherrabbit #preraphaelite #artsandcraftsmovement
What have you made with bias binding? 🌿 Perfect for crafting, we’ve got some amazing sales on our 50m bias binding rolls in Red Strawberry Thief, Lily and Trellis have 80% off, a 50m roll for £25- what would you make? 🪡🧵
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Which is your fave; Strawberry Thief red or blue? 🫶🏻
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A gorgeous Strawberry Thief tablescape - because why not make everyday things just that little bit prettier? 🥰 Is Strawberry Thief blue or red your fave? 🫶🏻
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#williammorris #williammorrisfabric #williammorrisdesign #uksmallbusiness #smallbusiness #smallbusinessowner #strawberrythief #strawberrythiefprint #preraphaelite
These gorgeous flowers steal the show in our easy little Saturday tablescape 🫶🏻 Lily is one of our favourite William Morris designs and we were so happy to be able to digitally print it now, of course it’s still printed here in the UK 🇬🇧
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#cottagecore #flowers #williammorris #williammorrisfabric #williammorrisdesign #aldifinds #lily #aldiflowers
Beautiful blooms wrapped in timeless William Morris beauty 🌸✨
This William Morris floral Mallow Wine is so gorgeous and one of our faves year round 🫶🏻
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Totally obsessed with these dreamy William Morris florals 🌸🪡
Perfect for sewing projects, cushions, curtains – you name it. Classic prints that never go out of style!
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#WilliamMorrisFabric #FloralVibes #SewingProjects #FabricAddict #VintageFlorals #HomeStyle #CraftyCorner #InteriorInspo #CottagecoreVibes #PrettyPatterns #FabricStashGoals
Every Laura’s Beau team member has a William Morris napkin on hand at all time; even on the beach apparently 😂 Dreaming of beach days in Cornwall a few weeks ago ⛱️
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#cornwall #cornwallbeaches #cornwalluk #icecream #napkin #strawberrythief #williammorris
A little William Morris floral magic hanging over the cooker today 🫶🏻 can you name this Morris design? 🤎
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#williammorris #williammorrisfabric #ovenglove #teatowel #teatoweldesign #teatowelsofinstagram #cottagecoreaesthetic #cottagecore #compton
Spending Friday eve arranging some fresh blooms round the house ready for bank holiday weekend 🥰 Remember our 15% discount is still running on our website, use code: SPRINGBLOOMS 🫶🏻
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#bankholidayweekend #williammorris #pimpernel #freshflowers #iris #flowerarranging #cutflowers