A beginner-friendly workshop designed to introduce students to color from nature. This class is taught through a holistic circular design lens and intended to support students in transforming an existing garment through bundle dyeing with botanical dyes. This is a hands-on and very experiential workshop.

We will cover the mordanting process which is the most important step in creating color from nature. We will work with a variety of dye materials including household waste, fresh and dried raw materials, pigments, and liquid natural dyes. Students will have the opportunity to touch, feel, and smell all the materials while dry and then also when we steam our bundles. This workshop has been designed as an introduction to building awareness around color in the natural world as well as how to keep a garment in use by modifying it.

Students will need to bring a garment that is primarily (60% or more) cotton, linen, or hemp. Blends are ok.

• Learn about the mordanting process for plant based fibers. This is foundational in creating color on textiles with natural dyes.
• Get familiarized with different dye stuffs options such as household “waste”, dried or fresh raw materials, pigments, and liquid natural dyes.
• Have the opportunity to learn and practice an aspect of circularity by taking an existing garment and transforming it into a customized piece thus repurposing it and keeping it in use.
• Learn about the materials and dye stuff being used thorough an experiential lens. Get an opportunity to see, touch, feel, and smell all the different ingredients.

1:00 PM – Intro to materials and bundle dyeing technique. Mordanting clothing.

2:00 PM – Complete the bundle dyeing by putting the materials onto clothing.

3:00 PM – Steam pieces with a Q&A discussion.

Worn: A People's History of Clothing by Sofi Thanhauser

Wild Textiles: Grown, Foraged, Found by Alice Fox

Intro to Botanical Dyes Workshop PDF

Alexandra is an artist and designer whose practice involves material history and the relationships between nature, humans, textiles, and apparel. Alexandra’s work with Infinite Vessels has explored natural dyes, fully fashioned knitting, personal/collective history, and scale. They are committed to sourcing and producing locally through relationship building and evolving their work to utilize more resources already in existence.

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