Join founder of Botanical Inks, Babs Behan, live from her Bristol-based natural dye studio, to develop a foundation in non-toxic natural dyeing and printmaking and provide all the skills you need to develop a sustainable and plant-based creative practise.
You will learn how to:
sustainably source fabrics, dyes, mordants
source equipment for your own dye studio
make and use natural mordants from local plants
make and use natural dyes from whole plant materials, powders and extract powders.
make and use natural inks for drawing, writing and printmaking on paper and cloth.
use a range of ecological surface application techniques including natural dyeing, bundle dyeing, hapazome, shibori, painting, drawing, relief printing with found objects and plant materials.
prepare, mordant and dye protein and cellulose fibres without the use of any harmful synthetic chemicals.
transform dyes into inks suitable for drawing, writing and printing with found objects and plant materials. Creating colour from plant-to-print.
use flowers/food waste/kitchen supplies/garden weeds and plant materials for bundle dyeing to up-cycle an item of your own.
Day 1: JUNE 25th, 6-8.30pm BST (2.5 hours session) will include:
An intro to sustainable materials sourcing, the theory and practice of natural dyeing - preparing cloth and yarn for dyeing and printing - preparing mordants - preparing plant material to make dyes - preparing binders for inks
Day 2: JUNE 26th, 6-8.30pm BST (2.5 hours session) will include:
Dyeing samples with the prepared dyes - bundle dyeing - hapazome - preparing inks - printing samples with found object/printing blocks - sample drawing/writing inks - shibori
This course is focused on learning the processes, rather than creating a finished item. You will be provided with a pack containing all of the items you need for this course, posted out 2 weeks prior to the event. Pack includes small samples of different organic, locally sourced cloth and yarn made from a range of plant and animal fibres ( e.g. cotton, linen, silk, wool) and recycled paper. To create a collection of dye and print samples. You are also invited to bring your own small item of clothing to up-cycle with bundle dyeing. (A small vest or scarf would be ideal - nothing too chunk/heavy/fluffy - bring a selection to choose from on the day)
You will come away with a collection of naturally dyed and printed cloth and paper samples, a bundle dyed item of your own, and the skills to continue to use these techniques again yourself using simple equipment which can be found in the kitchen or home.
This is a great course for those wishing to kick start their natural dye practise with all the basics to get them going.
2 x 1/2 Day Course: Full Price: £200/ Conc’s: £165 - includes materials package
Materials package includes:
- A copy of Botanical Inks Plant-To-Print Dyes, Techniques and Projects by Babs Behan (Quadrille, 2018).
- Small samples for dyeing (Organic Cotton, European Linen, Org. UK grown silk, Somerset Reg.Ag wool yarn and unbleached UK recycled paper)
- Dyes (Dry plants, Powder Dyes, Dye Extracts)
- Mordants (Tannin, Alum, Soda Ash, Crea mof Tartar)
- ph neutral organic natural soap
- plant starch binders
You will need:
-A notebook and pen
- a small 100% silk item for up-cycling with bundle dyeing (A small vest or scarf would be ideal - nothing too chunk/heavy/fluffy.
- A lemon or clear vinegar (e.g apple cider/white wine vinegar)
- Soap or other alkaline eg soda ash.
- You may also wish to have a camera to catalogue your journey
- found objects for print making (eg pen lids, jam jars, small lids and bottle tops etc)
- A quill, dipping pen, paint brushes and/or sticks + feathers for ink mark making
- a collection of fresh, dry or pressed leaves and flowers (as flat as possible)
- Access to cooking hobs
- Stainless steel pots and pans, mixing bowls, spoons.
You will be emailed full info prior to workshop.
Please book asap. Bookings will close (2 weeks prior to the event) on June 11th to ensure all materials packages are posted in good time.
For more info, please email Babs at: hello@botanicalinks.com
This course is ideal for anyone wishing to develop a more sustainable creative practise, or transition to a non-toxic way of applying colour and pattern to cloth, paper and yarn based textile arts. All levels of experience are welcome, from complete beginners to more advanced dyers and printmakers.
