Grown for the striking petals, scabiosa black knight imparts some fantastic colour when eco-printing.

Certified organic seeds grown, harvested & dried in Lincoln, Canterbury.

50 Seeds

Certified organic seeds, grown and harvested at the BHU Organic farm in Lincoln, 2025

50 seeds

Grown on our organic farm in Tai Tapu, hand pulled, dew retted, manually broken, scutched & hand combed.

Long line is the long, aligned bast fibres that run the length of the linen flax stalk. Extracting the fibre is a slow process that takes a lot of hands and a lot of energy to get here and due to the hand processed nature, every strick of fibre has it's own unique characteristics.

Stock is limited and processing is ongoing, so if this lot is sold out, you're welcome to join the backorder list via our pre-order option and we'll be in touch when the next batch is ready to ship to you.

Available in 50g stricks

Every purchase goes toward our hi-lo spinning machine. More information coming soon via our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/papahoa_fibreworks

Good for: hand-spinning, linen yarns, weaving & experimenting.

Coreopsis (Coreopsis tinctoria) can provide rich rusty oranges, depending on the mordant and dyeing method. Hand-harvested from organically managed crops keeping it natural for your dyeing needs. 

Certified organic, grown at Papahoa Fibreworks Farm in Tai Tapu, Canterbury over the 2025/26 season

Whole flower heads - 50g lots

Tow refers to the short fibres that remain on the combs when processing our long line linen fibre. We've taken our Canterbury-grown tow and carded it into a roving, so it's ready to spin straight from the bag. The carding opens the fibres up and makes linen more approachable for spinners who are newer to working with bast fibres. If you've found long line or tow a bit challenging to draft, start here.

Please note that our Canterbury-grown fibres are all hand processed so there may be anomalies in the fibre such as left over shives.

Every purchase goes toward our hi-lo spinning machine. More information coming soon via our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/papahoa_fibreworks

Good for: beginner linen spinning, woollen-style preparation, papermaking, blending with wool or other fibres.

Ships 2026-07.

This fibre came to us as a gift from a New Zealand university, originally sourced through Landcare Research. We don't know its origins or how it was processed, but it has been commercially cleaned and prepared into a roving and it's a genuinely good fibre to work with. If you've been curious about spinning linen but haven't tried it yet, this is an excellent place to start.

Every purchase goes toward our hi-lo spinning machine. More information coming soon via our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/papahoa_fibreworks

Good for: hand-spinning, sampling, weaving, experimental textile work.

Woad is a member of the brassica family and happily grows throughout winter. Grows as a rosette, harvest the leaves as you would a cut-and-come-again lettuce, from the oldest leaves, discarding any that have browned.

Soda ash (sodium carbonate) is an essential alkaline agent in natural dyeing used primarily to scour (clean) cellulose fibers like cotton and linen, raise the pH of dye baths for brighter colours.

It is used at 1-2% of the fiber's dry weight (WOF) to remove oils and waxes before dyeing.

Soda Ash is considered non-toxic, but working in a ventilated area and wearing a mask and gloves is best practice whilst handling this powder. I recommend keeping any tools used for this process separate from kitchen tools. Alum acetate may be safely disposed of in a municipal water system by pouring down the drain.

This material comes in a natural biodegradable cellophane. We recommend transferring this to a glass or plastic jar for long-term storage.

Potassium Titanium Oxalate is used for the mordanting of protein and cellulose fibres. The Titanium aids in producing bright oranges with some tannins.

Use at 8-10% WOF. Dissolve in hot water. Add to the dye bath, add fibres and cook for 45-60 minutes at 75-90° C, stirring frequently.

Titanium Oxalate is considered non-toxic, but working in a ventilated area and wearing a mask and gloves is best practice whilst handling this powder. I recommend keeping any tools used for this process separate from kitchen tools. Alum acetate may be safely disposed of in a municipal water system by pouring down the drain.

This material comes in a natural biodegradable cellophane. We recommend transferring this to a glass or plastic jar for long-term storage.

Reseda Luteola
Certified organic seeds, grown and harvested at the BHU Organic farm in Lincoln, 2024

50 seeds

Dried madder root [rubia tinctorium] powder can give light pinks, corals, reds and even purples, depending on the mordant and dyeing method. A stalwart of the natural dye world, it is one of the oldest know plant-based dyes and is revered for its excellent lightfastness.

Grown and harvested responsibly in India.

100g lot - use at 50% WOF for medium depth of shade

Certified organic seeds, grown and harvested at the BHU Organic farm in Lincoln, 2024

50 seeds

Sulphur Cosmos (cosmos sulpheurus) can provide vibrant oranges and rich browns, depending on the mordant and dyeing method. Grown without chemicals or pesticides, each bloom is hand-harvested to ensure the highest quality for your dyeing needs.

Certified organic, grown at the Papahoa Fibreworks farm in Tai Tapu, Canterbury over the 2025/26 season

Whole flower heads - 100g lot

Marigold (Tagetes patula) can provide vibrant, rich golden hues, depending on the mordant and dyeing method. Grown without chemicals or pesticides, each bloom is hand-harvested to ensure the highest quality for your dyeing needs.

Certified organic, grown at the Papahoa Fibreworks farm in Tai Tapu, Canterbury over the 2025/26 season

Whole flower heads - 100g lot

Calcium carbonate, or ground white chalk. Used to neutralise any remaining aluminium acetate or iron mordant. Can also be used as an assist to 'harden' water, to aid in the deepening of shades in certain natural dyes.

Add 50g of chalk (calcium carbonate) to 5 litres of warm water. Fully wet the fibre in this solution and wring out, before rinsing thoroughly. This solution can be reused for up to 10kg of fibre.

Using fresh indigo leaves allows you to enjoy the offerings of this iconic dye plant, without the hassle of growing, extracting pigment and then preparing a vat. Fresh indigo leaves can be utilised in many ways using techniques such as the salt rub method and the ice blender method. These can yield incredible robin egg blue shades that are hard to obtain with other dye materials. The fresh leaf indigo process is best used with protein fibres - it has a particular affinity for silk.

*Pre-order, for despatch on Wednesday the 4th of February*

Each pack will be harvested on the morning of Wednesday the 4th of February, from our Tai Tapu farm plot and kept cool before being quickly vacuum-packed to retain freshness. It will then be sent overnight, and suggest using it within 24-48 hours of its arrival for best results. We recommend using 200-300% WOF (weight of fibre) to obtain the shades pictured. A higher WOF will obtain darker shades. Each order will come with instructions on how to process the indigo using the salt rub and ice blender method, and also carry fabric care instructions to ensure your colour is long-lasting.

Pre-order today to give fresh leaf indigo dyeing a try!

Symplocos is a natural, plant based mordant. The leaves are a natural bioaccumulator of aluminium, and when harvested and groundintoo powder, these made an effective mordant. it can be used on both cellulose and protein fibres at 50% WOF.

Note that Symplocos does impart a yellowish shade onto your fabrics, and will therefore affect your final dye colour.

Symplocos is considered non-toxic, but working in a ventilated area and wearing a mask and gloves is best practice whilst handling this powder. I recommend keeping any tools used for this process separate from kitchen tools. symplocos may be safely disposed of in a municipal water system by pouring down the drain.

This material comes in a natural biodegradable cellophane. We recommend transferring this to a glass or plastic jar for long-term storage.

Aluminium acetate is used for the mordanting of cellulose fibres such as cotton, linen and hemp. Use at 5-8% WOF.

Alum acetate is considered non-toxic, but working in a ventilated area and wearing a mask and gloves is best practice whilst handling this powder. I recommend keeping any tools used for this process separate from kitchen tools. Alum acetate may be safely disposed of in a municipal water system by pouring down the drain.

This material comes in a natural biodegradable cellophane. We recommend transferring this to a glass or plastic jar for long-term storage.