Sunday, January 13, 2013

Happy New Year 2013!

The start of a new year.....and what's ahead!
This year besides focusing on clothing fabrics, we are going to explore two sets of natural dyes in depth....the Red dyes ~ cochineal, madder, brazilwood and lac ~ and the old standby's  ~ indigo  and woad. Besides perfecting the dyeing techniques of both the blue and the red, we are going to delve into some new territory, that of surface applications.  For the red dyes we are going to explore printing, silkscreening and warp painting and with the blue dyes we will be doing more with shibori, resist printing and ikat.  For the Red dye class we are pleased to have Zoe Sheehan Saldana to teach the surface applications and a former dye student, Mary Brust, will be teaching the shibori and ikat techniques.  Alison and I will be teaching the dyeing  segments of the these two classes so come join us this summer for some great workshops.
More details and dates are on the web site (or will be soon!)

ps...for those of you who would like our 2012 newsletter either as an e-newsletter or hard copy, send us an email.
Zoe back for another month long intensive to explore surface techniques with the Red Dyes:  madder and cochineal.

Rolling up the silk screened  fabric for the steamer.
Close-up of the silk screened pattern which Zoe designed.

"The Stainless  Coffin" aka - fabric steamer.










Mary Brust our new shibori teacher!

Some of Mary's shibori and ikat fabrics.