A textile artisan specializing in natural dyes and couture sewing, I draw inspiration from the rhythm of life on my small farm, following the cycles of the seasons to shear my sheep, plant my garden, and dye my fabrics.
“When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.”
Learn to make a personal natural indigo vat without worrying about toxicity or cost of heavy chemicals. These vats use a natural chemical reduction process to produce a quick, reliable, long-lasting indigo blue. I’ll provide a brief overview of indigo’s historical highlights and chemical quirks, and guide you through making a natural reduction vat. We’ll explore simple resist techniques to produce patterns on silk and cellulose fabrics and then introduce the added beauty of rust prints in combination with the indigo. Finally, we’ll cover care and maintenance of the vat and give you the option of taking one home.
This workshop will begin by using the contact method of using natural plant material to pattern paper appropriate for book binding. Students will use contact-printed papers dyed with real leaves to create a custom portfolio to hold precious papers. We will print a variety of papers to include in the portfolio. Students are welcome to bring their own papers to use for accents. No previous bookbinding experience is required.
Explore pattern and color and the interaction between multiple mordants with natural dyes. We’ll use silkscreen, block print, and stencil methods to apply a variety of mordants in your pattern preference. Sampling will show us the difference in results when you dye fabric first, then print or print first and then dye.
The second annual Oakshadow Fiber Fest presents five days of natural dye projects! Each day we’ll explore a different natural dye technique. Whether you attend for just one day or join us for the full week, you’re guaranteed to have a good time! Topics include natural dyes, indigo and shibori, contact prints, pigment prints, and a final project using our samples. This year we’ll use some of our samples to make a small drawstring bag inspired by the lightning bug.
I’m thrilled to be co-teaching this class with my friend and mushroom expert, Julie Beeler of The Mushroom Color Atlas fame! https://mushroomcoloratlas.com/
Join in on an adventure from forest to finish as you create traditional Appalachian quilt blocks using fungi and locally foraged dye plants! Taking inspiration from pioneer dyers Jim Liles and Miriam Rice, learn to forage and process your finds into dye baths and pigments. Explore various methods for dyeing and printing to produce compelling designs on cotton fabric, which you will sew into quilt blocks. All levels welcome.
Learn to make a variety of personal natural indigo vats without worrying about toxicity or cost of heavy chemicals! These vats use a natural chemical reduction process to produce a quick, reliable, long-lasting indigo blue. I’ll provide a brief overview of indigo’s historical highlights and chemical quirks, and guide you through making a natural reduction vat. We’ll explore simple resist techniques to produce pattern on fabric and thread. Finally, we’ll cover care and maintenance of the vats and give you the option to take one home.
