About Me

My name is Debbie Orr, and I am passionate about colour, textiles and nature. 

I previously ran a yarn dyeing studio for 12 years in England called Skein Queen, which continues to thrive with Rachel Moutrie at the helm. Since moving to Northern Ireland, I discovered a love for natural dyeing. The results are a delightful palette of muted semi-solids and tonal colourways which can be tweaked with different modifiers. Every time I dye, I'm in awe of the colours produced by nature.

Attending a natural dyeing course run by the inspirational women of G-uld in Denmark back in 2019 opened my eyes to the vast array of colours that could be achieved using plants and bugs.

We now have over an acre of garden, perfect for growing our own dye plants. Some will be foraged in the hedgerows along our country roads. I use natural extracts to boost the range of colour with plenty of overdyeing (my favourite thing) to achieve different tones. In addition to yarn, I dye linens, silk threads and ribbons. Everything is small batch.

As Herbarium Dyeworks is focused on using mainly plants, I like to think of it as a mini herbarium, preserving the colours yielded by so many different specimens. I love the idea of being like a modern-day classification system of colour. 

I enjoy the slow, meditative process of natural dyeing and how beautifully the naturally dyed colours harmonize with each other. My hope is that I'll be able to bring some of that colour joy into your own projects.