North shore dye studio
@umberisle · made by Wren & Tam Alder
Naturally dyed linen, made in small runs beside cold water. Madder, onion skin, iron and time — nothing else.
New pieces the first Friday of every month
Umber Isle is a two-person dye house in a converted boathouse on the north shore. We buy undyed European linen, cut and sew it ourselves, then colour it in open pots over a wood stove. Every run is dated and numbered, so no two shelves of ours ever match — which is rather the point.
Featured
This month's letter follows a single madder harvest from the raised bed behind the boathouse to a finished run of twelve tea towels — including the two that came out wrong and what we did with them.
Each run is dyed in one pot on one day, then hung on the line outside. Sizes and remaining stock are listed by run number.
Pieces with an uneven take, a short measure or a sample colour we won't repeat. Perfectly sound cloth — just not what we set out to make.
Natural fibres only — linen, hemp, cotton and wool take our dyes well. We open a handful of commission slots at the start of each season.
A slow letter, sent once a month. Dye recipes, a weather note, and whatever the shore turned up that we couldn't stop thinking about.
Shorter and messier than the letter. Photographs of half-finished pots, plant identifications we got wrong, and the occasional good one.
Recorded at the kitchen table with whoever has come to visit — boat builders, net menders, a retired lighthouse keeper. One episode a season.
Mordanting, three dye baths and an iron dip. You leave with four dyed pieces, a recipe book and stained hands. No experience needed.
Open afternoons run through the warmer months. Come and see the drying line, look through the seconds bin, and stay for tea if the weather turns.
Small minimums, long lead times, and colour that will vary between runs. We take on a few new stockists each year and like to know the shop first.