In this Tower Hill Botanic Garden Natural Dye Workshop class on Sunday, August 5 from 1 – 3:30 you will:
-Learn about what colors have been used throughout the world/history to make beautiful naturally dyed yarns and fabric.
-Create a color palette with natural dyes: indigo or woad, cochineal, coreopsis, weld, goldenrod and logwood using alum as a mordant.
-See how these colors can by overdyed and modified by a second “bath” in another color or mordant- specifically iron, which saddens and copper that greens. Students will help create the dye baths.
-Create a silk scarf using eco printing techniques using plant material provided by the instructor and/ or fresh plant material you have brought from home.
-Complete a sample book with the dye colors used and the “recipes” to achieve each color.
-Discuss what you can grow, find and purchase to continue personal experiments in natural dyeing.
A list of online resources and a bibliography of helpful Natural Dye books will be given to each participant. All materials are included.
Instructor Laura Hacker has a BFA in Fiber Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and has been working with natural dyes for 15 years. She recently exhibited in the Strands and Stems exhibit at Tower Hill. $45 for Tower Hill members, $55 for nonmembers. Register at www.towerhillbg.org.
