This course will provide you with a thorough introduction to dyeing with natural materials. Mainly these will have been gathered locally but we will also use some traditional but more unusual dye plants such as madder and weld which we grow in the BPCG dye garden.

We’ll be dyeing with leaves, flowers and roots, so there’ll be plenty of exposure to different methods of extracting dye.

We’ll cover the essentials of transferring colour found in plants onto wool and silk including:

• Preparing the fibre
• Use of different mordants
• Sourcing dyestuffs
• Preparing and working with natural dye baths
• Modifying the colours in various ways to create multiple shades
• Gathering and storing natural dyestuffs
• Keeping records of dye experiments

You will go away with samples of wool that you have dyed in the workshop and there’ll be an opportunity too for you to buy silk scarves that you can dye in the workshop and take home.

You will need to bring a packed lunch.

This workshop is run by Mette Lindahl-Wise, an indie dyer based in Herne Hill. She draws on the British approach to dyeing with natural materials as well as on the Scandinavian tradition which can be traced back to the Viking ages.

Follow Mette on Instagram