Presenting ‘Fermentation Dyeing with Woad’ at the Virtual Biodyes Conference 21st October 2020

Back in August, I submitted a proposal for a presentation at the first Biodyes Conference on Fermentation dyeing with Woad. It was a first in two ways, firstly, it was the first Biodyes conference and secondly, it was one of the first, if not first, scientific conferences to be held in a virtual world.  I was stupidly excited when my proposal was excepted, because I rarely get to go to events. I live in a rural part of Dorset and am busy looking after my Portland sheep and dogs, so to find people and time to go elsewhere is nearly impossible.

I spent some time doing the experiments required to complete the presentation.  Instead of ‘playing’, I formalised the methods more and did more research, this was great for me. I tend to leave my scientific brain behind sometimes.

I also planned to have a kiosk at the event, where I could talk to people about plant dyeing, especially the ancient three, woad, weld and madder. 

The week before the event was spent writing the materials and visiting the virtual world at the Virbela campus.  This involved uploading the software, registering (all free), creating an avatar and then entering the World.  It is a strange but very immersive experience.  The World is set on an island, with beaches, play areas, exhibition halls (think NEC events), conference halls and kiosk areas.  When you run a conference, you get password protected access to the areas you have hired.

Once you get a hang of moving and avoiding going through people, furniture is solid, people aren’t, it is a great place to meet new people.  In the few days before the conference, I finally met a group of people I have followed from afar!  Many were giving presentations, so I felt a bit like the new kid on the block and a bit of a fraud.

I practiced my presentation and set up my kiosk, with slides shows on the Ancient 3 and a simple of method of fermentation dyeing with Woad.  I was all set and the conference started.  Disaster – my internet connection failed.  That was OK, if should come back…. Well it did, but my laptop then decided that it would keep falling over…. Finally, I managed to return to the world.  Jenny Oliver had re-shuffled the order of speakers and I arrived just in time to give my presentation and watch the final keynote speaker – I had missed the rest.

This is disappointing, but they will be watchable still in the virtual world until the 3^rd November 2020.  There will be a few of us popping in to talk to people and I hope others will be able to join us.  Please contact me if you would like to meet up or just visit the world and look at what people are doing in the natural dye world.  Alternatively, look at the Biodyes Conference web-site for details.

It was great to meet Jenny of Kentish Dyes, Susan and Ashley of Nature’s Rainbow, Debbie of The Mulberry Dyer and, last but not least. Mel of Mamie’s Schoolhouse.

I hope that we can move forward the use of sustainable dyes into the future, but it is clear we have a long way to go as far as the chemistry is concerned…

Hope to see some more people in the virtual world over the next few days for some interesting discussions.