One-day Intensive

BareHands Artisans, Belmar New Jersey

Saturday, April 27

Fabric marbling is a wonderful blend of monotype printing, repeat pattern development, and color play! In this intensive one-day workshop students will learn the fundamentals of marbling, including how to select materials and manipulate the chemistry of the marbling tray. We’ll discuss the history behind European marbled decoration as we explore traditional techniques and combed patterns. Students will then develop their own palette and style to create a suite of designs on cotton and silk to take home with them.

After Workshop

Textile Arts Center, Manhattan

Tuesday, May 7

This course will inspire and inform students to get creative with color! Whether you don’t know the basics or your palette is burned out, we’ll awaken your color sense with a discussion of color theory and materiality. Each student will assess their color preferences and learn how to extrapolate their favorite color harmonies into endless palettes. An overview of pigments, dyes, and binders will give students a springboard for applying theory to practice.

Snow Farm

Williamsburg, Massachusetts

May 11 - 12

room and board available

Marbling is a delighting blend of monotype printing, repeat pattern development, and color play. In addition to the fundamentals of paper marbling, this course will focus on color theory, the properties of various paints, and how to create unique color stories. Discussions on the history of European marbling will accompany explorations of traditional techniques, combed patterns, and troubleshooting. Students will develop their own palette and style to create a suite of designs to take home.

One-day Intensive

BareHands Artisans, Belmar New Jersey

Sunday, July 21

Join us for a relaxing and vivid afternoon of bundle dyeing to extract color and pattern from plants. Students will imprint fabric with the botanical dyes of petals, leaves, and roots. We’ll reveal the wealth of color hidden in common dye plants such as coreopsis, marigold, and cosmos. After dyeing a few swatches in a variety of colors, each student pattern their own silk scarf with this fun, ecologically friendly, and aromatherapeutic way to explore botanical color.

Adult Summer Camp

Textile Arts Center, Manhattan

July 22 - 26

10:30 - 1:30, with extended open studio access

This 5 day intensive course delves into the world of beautiful, accessible, and sustainable natural dyes. Students will learn the basics of selecting and preparing fibers, and extracting color from a variety of fresh and dried plants. Special attention will be paid to the selection of mordants for lasting color in textiles and works on paper. After getting familiar with the best practices of natural dyeing, we’ll explore print and pattern opportunities. We’ll also produce handmade inks and lake pigment watercolors. This process of transforming the dye baths into lake pigments stabilizes and preserve the dyes for future projects and uses up every drop of natural color.

Class structure: Class will meet with the instructor Monday through Friday from 10:30am-1:30pm. This course encourages students to get creative and develop their artwork independently, with extended open studio hours after each class session. Your focus may be building a comprehensive swatch library, tackling a big project, or pure experimentation. On Friday evening from 7-9pm students are invited to share their work with the public during a show and tell session.

Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts

Gatlinburg, Tennessee

August 4 - 10

room and board available

This workshop introduces students to sustainable sources of color as they extract and fix natural dyes to paper, fabric and thread. You will discover the historical and material sympathy between natural dyes and traditional bookbinding fibers and pay special attention to the use of mordants for lasting color. After applying color and pattern to book materials, participants will move to the bindery to create structures featuring the dyed elements. Students will depart with thorough knowledge of the best practices of natural dyeing, the beginnings of a swatch library, and handmade books incorporating myriad botanical hues.