Textiles: botanical dye techniques

Course Dates: 25/11/24 - 09/12/24
Time: 10:30 - 16:30
Location: Keeley Street
Tutors: 
Produce your own hand dyed fabrics using botanical dye techniques.
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Full fee £249.00 Senior fee £199.00 Concession £162.00

Textiles: botanical dye techniques
  • Course Code: VX261
  • Dates: 25/11/24 - 09/12/24
  • Time: 10:30 - 16:30
  • Taught: Mon, Daytime
  • Duration: 3 sessions (over 3 weeks)
  • Location: Keeley Street
  • Tutor: Renata Minoldo

Course Code: VX261

Mon, day, 25 Nov - 09 Dec '24

Duration: 3 sessions (over 3 weeks)

Please note: We offer a wide variety of financial support to make courses affordable. Just visit our online Help Centre for more information on a range of topics including fees, online learning and FAQs.

What is the course about?

Explore, experiment and develop botanical dyeing on fabric and yarn. Learn how to prepare fibres for great colour intake and how to best preserve them. Use a variety of natural dyes including dye extracts, food waste and flowers to develop a natural colour palette. Explore bundle dyeing and a variety of resist techniques. Learn how to use colour modifiers and what to do with your leftover dye bath. Create your own exciting natural colour palette and make your dye swatch book, recording your own experiments.

What will we cover?

- Session 1 What are botanical dyes? Types of fibres for natural dyes. How to prepare fabric and yarn for dyeing. Scouring and mordanting cellulose fibres. Tannins. Dyeing with extracts, immersion dyeing. Resist dye techniques.

- Session 2 Dyeing with protein fibres. Scouring and mordanting protein fibres. Extracting colour from food and garden waste. Bundle dyeing and flower printing techniques. Contemporary natural dyeing applications.

- Session 3 Colour modifiers and the importance of reading the pH of a solution. Over dyeing. Exhaust baths. Eco-friendly approaches to managing leftover dye baths. Lake pigments. Dyeing at home, health and safety considerations.

What will I achieve?
By the end of this course you should be able to...

All students will be able to:
- Correctly identify and prepare fabrics for botanical dyeing
- Make dye baths extracting colour from plant matter and using dye extracts
- Work with a variety of dye, print and resist techniques
- Understand the importance of mordants on natural dyeing
- keep a botanical dyeing journal with swatches, recipes and experiments
- use colour modifiers to get a variety of colours from the same dye pot

Intermediate students will be able to :
• Further explore and practise botanical dyeing techniques
• Work towards an artwork or specific design idea using botanical pigments on fabric or yarn.

What level is the course and do I need any particular skills?

This course is great for beginners as well as for intermediate students that would like to deepen their botanical dyeing and design skills within a structured course and a very well equipped studio.You should be able to use a computer to access Google classroom, follow simple written and verbal instructions to support demonstrations, hand-outs and for health and safety information as well as being able to use numbers to do simple measurements and calculations. Class will be lively and busy, and you will be encouraged to join group discussions.

How will I be taught, and will there be any work outside the class?

You will be taught with presentations, practical demonstrations to the group and individual help and advice needed. Digital handouts will be provided via google classroom, please make sure you can access it using your City Lit details and make yourself familiar with it. Samples and examples will be shown and further supported with a variety of books and online links. There will be some informal group discussions and feedback will be given both individually and within the group.

There will be suggestions for some optional homework that will help the projects move on. This will include simple activities like gathering food waste and foraging some plants, Students may enjoy working in their projects outside of the classroom to enrich their sessions.

Are there any other costs? Is there anything I need to bring?

Basic materials and protective clothing are provided, but you may want to add to this by bringing:
- A collection of fabric scraps, odd sizes and shapes ok –only in natural fibres, (silk, cotton, wool, linen)
- Your own rubber gloves and / or apron
Please wear old clothes.

When I've finished, what course can I do next?

Textiles:Frame loom weaving (weave with your naturally dyed yarn), Textiles: Sustainable bundle dyeing, Textiles: Indigo Shibori dyeing or Textiles: Printing with natural dye

City Lit has a range of textile courses for beginners to advanced learners and professional practitioners.
Experienced students may wish to apply for the go on to City Lit advanced textiles course. Please browse the website for upcoming courses.
General information and advice on courses at City Lit is available from the Student Centre and Library on Monday to Friday from 10:30 – 12:00 then 15:00 – 17:00.

Renata Minoldo

Renata Minoldo is an artist and educator exploring the physical and emotional body through textiles, sculpture and experiences with people. She has an academic training in Fashion and Visual Arts and hands on experience in the Fashion Industry working in London and New York. She is interested in alternative ways to approaching art education, aiming to stimulate an intuitive learning and focusing on the individual processes and needs. She works with a wide variety of people, from children in galleries and primary schools to teenagers and older adults in community centres, charities and public spaces. Her work has been awarded with residencies internationally. https://www.renataminoldo.com/

Please note: We reserve the right to change our tutors from those advertised. This happens rarely, but if it does, we are unable to refund fees due to this. Our tutors may have different teaching styles; however we guarantee a consistent quality of teaching in all our courses.