Discover the wonderful world of natural colour on this creative workshop with Textile Artist Kirstie Williams. Using plants, roots and everyday kitchen ingredients, you’ll explore how to extract beautiful colours from nature and transform them into unique textile creations.
Throughout the day, you’ll experiment with a range of natural dyes, including onion skins, madder root, turmeric and logwood, creating your own colourful chart of fabric swatches. You’ll learn how to prepare dye baths, explore the effects of different mordants such as alum and iron, and discover how these can influence the colours achieved on different fibres.
You’ll then put your new skills into practice by dyeing your own pair of socks, experimenting with full immersion dyeing, ombré effects or tie-dye to create a unique, wearable reminder of the colours and techniques you’ve explored. No two results are quite the same, making natural dyeing such a rewarding and often surprising process.
Whether you’re completely new to natural dyeing or already have some experience, this workshop offers plenty of inspiration, practical skills and ideas to continue experimenting at home.
What’s included
All materials and equipment will be provided, including a selection of natural dyes, mordants and fabric samples in cotton, silk and wool and your very own plain cotton socks to dye. There is an £8 materials charge on the day.
Please feel free to bring along any small fabric pieces of your own that you’d like to experiment with, too.
You’ll leave with your fabric colour chart, your own naturally dyed pair of socks and plenty of inspiration to continue exploring plant-based colour.
