This summer, learn about the ancient art of natural dyes with textile-artist Alexandra Juliette. As high-summer approaches, we will explore the abundant foliage and flowers of the season to create colourful natural dyes.
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Natural dyes have been used in Scotland since ancient times, producing the famous colours used in our heritage textiles, tweed and tartan. Before the invention of synthetic dyes, all of our fabrics were dyed using plants, lichen, mosses and fungi. Join textile-artist and horticulturist Alexandra Juliette to rediscover the hidden colours in the local landscape.
In this class you will learn all about seasonal plant dyes, how to prepare both protein (wool, silk etc) and cellulose fibres (linen, cotton etc) for dyeing, how to forage and grow materials sustainably and how to prepare your own dye baths. We will use both pre-gathered materials as well as a walk around the site to find local plants to use.
For this summer session of the ‘Dyeing with the Seasons’ series, we will explore dyeing with flowers and foliage such as woad, weld, madder, dyer’s coreopsis and chamomile, as well as plants growing on site. All materials are provided and you will leave with both wool, cotton and silk samples of the dyes used.
Bring along a notebook for writing down dye recipes and to record your experiments.
If you need support paying for this course, please email Emma@hugoburgefundation.org
Rediscover the hidden colours in the local landscape
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