Workshops and Apprenticeships
Custom Natural Dye Workshops
Workshop
size:
Maximum 16 students. Best working group is 10-12.
View the April, 2007 workshop.
We will dye:
¾ lb silk yarns and/or spinning fibres and/or fabrics
per person, including several different types of spins, if yarns; and/or several
different fabrics. As a group we will dye in 10 different colours:
- a 2 oz skein of yarn or 3 oz of fibre or 1 yard of fabric for an individual
creation in colour(s).
- a scarf length of fabric to practice paint-dyeing with natural dyes.
Instruction in:
- All about silk
- Choice of yarns, and/or fibre and/or fabric
- Preparation and handling
- Techniques of dyeing
- Principles of Natural Dyes
- All the main mordants (Alum, Tin, Chrome, Iron)
- All the main, available, and safe natural dyestuffs (Indigo, Fustic, Madder,
Brazilwood, Logwood, Cochineal)
- Paint-dyeing with natural dyes
You will take home:
- naturally dyed silk fibres or fabrics in
these colours: blue (Indigo), green (Indigo + Fustic), magenta, rose, and
plum (Cochineal), red (Brazilwood), orange (Madder), gold (Fustic), purple
and silver (Logwood).
- an individual creation in your choice of colour(s) on 2 oz of silk yarn,
or 3 oz of fibre or one yard of fabric.
- a 15" by 45" scarf-size length of silk fabric that you will paint dye in
the colours you choose, and with a design you create yourself.
- A portfolio with printed instructions for all colours (and more) that we
will be doing, so you can be confident to continue at home on your own.
- A colour chart with 8" samples of over thirty colours on silk yarn, for reference.
Variations:
- Hemp: 100% soft, American spun hemp
yarns and/or Fibre and/or
fabrics. This quantity of hemp dyes beautifully with natural dyes. If we
do hemp, the Cochineal colours are replaced by Fustic + Logwood - soft greens,
and Catechu - brown. And yes, we can do both hemp and silk in the same
workshop.
- Mordants can be limited to alum and iron if desired.
- Other fibres can be dyed if desired, and other dyes can be used.
Workshop Length:
- 1 or 2 days (8 hour days): With a two day workshop we do the mordanting
on the first day, dyeing on the second. With a one day workshop I do the
mordanting at my studio and bring the silk ready to dye in one day. Naturally
there is more time for detailed instruction in two days rather than one.
- 3 days (6 hour days): Three days gives us more time to cover all aspects
of all the dyes, mordants, and silk itself. There is also more time to prepare
your silk scarf, and do extra yarns and fabric as you wish. And, by request,
we can dye black, which being a 3 day process cannot be done easily in a
1 or 2 day workshop.
Costs:
- Instructors fee: 1 day - $500; 2-day - $650; 3-day - $800
- Materials fee: $85/student (includes all dyes, textile materials, extensive
recipe portfolio and colour chart)
- Transportation costs
- A place to stay (My preference is to stay in someone's home)
Space/Equipment Needed:
- Workspace on large tables with 3 feet square per person is ideal
- GOOD LIGHT is crucial, natural light is preferred
- 6 hot plates or burners
- 6-8 pots, 3-gallons or larger (more people = more pots)
- 6 smaller pots, 1-2 gallon size (generally, each person bringing a pot
works well)
- several large metal strainers
- stir rods - wood dowels are fine
- rinse buckets
- rinsing facilities (near-by bathrooms have been used in a pinch)
- lots of paper towels and newspapers
- drying rack or lines
- a box of vinyl, disposable gloves (many people are now allergic to latex)
Additions:
Lectures and slides on silk, Peace Silk, therapeutic aspects of silk, raising
silk, wild silk, hemp, Natural Dyes of the New World, and The
Logwood Project: Natural Dyes and medicines of Quesquaya (the Dominican
Republic).
