Project Description

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Natural Dye Workshop with Beatrice Brown

Days/Dates: TBD (Typically 2 Days / Sat & Sunday)

Times: 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. each day

Length: 2 Days / 7 Hrs per day (with lunch breaks)

Age: 16+

Level: Will appeal to beginners as well as thought with some experience with natural dyes and who would like to understand more complex strategies to manage and manipulate color.

Class Fee (Previous Workshops) (all material included): 

  • OCAF Members $175
  • Non-Members $225

Student List (Bring/Wear): Kitchen gloves (not disposable type)  / old clothes (don’t mind staining with dye) / apron (optional but recommended)

Class Description:

A two-day hands-on, interactive workshop invites participants to learn the basics of the natural dyeing process including extraction of the dye from botanical materials, creating nine (9) dye pots, and corresponding recipes for use with cotton, linen and silk fabric

This workshop will cover several key instructions for successful natural dyeing:

  • Participants will learn about mordants, tannins, dyes and color shifts with metallic salts. This instruction will provide insight regarding color and light fastness, and chemical color shifts.
  • Participants will be able to see and achieve different effects of mordants with cellulose vs. protein fibers.
  • Participants will work with cloth to achieve vibrant colors using foraged and sourced natural dyes.
  • Participants will learn basic “dyer’s math”, principles of pH and the
    importance of understanding of WOF (weight of fiber) in natural dyeing.
  • Participants will appreciate the natural variable beauty derived frombotanicals vs. synthetic dyes.
  • Participants will compile a Natural Dye Journal with color swatches/samples produced during the workshop.
  • Concise instructions and all recipes will be included in this workshop.

All materials, equipment and supplies will be provided by the instructor

Location –
School Street Studios Building,
34 School Street, Watkinsville, GA 30677

Click Here to Register for the Wait List

INSTRUCTOR

Beatrice Brown
Bea states, “I was lucky to have been taught how to thread a needle by my grandmother when I was a young girl. During my summer visits, she would sit me on the back porch at her farm and insist that I help her make components of her quiltmaking. This ‘chore’ turned into a
fascination with the magic of fabric: the feel of it, the colors and how it transformed the human body. By the time I graduated high school, I was
convinced that I wanted to design clothes. When I became a stay-at-home mom, my focus shifted from fashion to quiltmaking, fiber arts, and
surface design. It has been my passion for over 40 years now. My current interests include working with naturally dyed fabrics, indigo and shibori techniques.”

Bea received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Hamptom University, Hampton, Virginia. Her work has been exhibited at galleries across the U.S., including Arizona, California, New York, and Georgia. She is a member of the Athens Modern Quilt Guild, the Studio Art Quilt Association, and the American Craft Council.