Tag: workshop

22 May
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Bundle Dyeing Seeds and Flowers Workshop

Amelia Hoskins / Dye Workshop, Dyes, Plant Dye / / 0 Comments

Bundle dyed silk samples were created at Flora's Bundle Dye Workshop in Forde Abbey Gardens

Bundle Dyed Silk Samples

Silk and cottons are covered in seeds, petals and powdered roots; then sprayed with vinegar, then folded up into angular folds, before tying up into stringed bundles.  Bundles are hung over the side of a large boiling pot of water.

Bright pigment result from steaming seeds (such as Hopi sunflower), petals (such as dahlia) and dried root (such as madder or logwood).

Drying out unwrapped silk bundles

Authors Samples –  I chose mostly pink and lilac dyestuffs which I tried to arrange in circular patterns, but this process is completely unpredictable.  Next time it would be interesting to make dyestuff arrangements in circular tied bundles or with elastic, similar to tie dye techniques, form snowflake type designs.

22 May
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Flora’s Plant dye foraging workshop

Amelia Hoskins / Dye Workshop, Plant Dye / / 0 Comments

Plants and trees that we can use in dye baths, with and without mordants (which make colours stronger) easily dye cotton, linen and silk.

Just a simple collection and boiling of plant matter, then simmering with fabric steeped.

Very bright yellow, or ocre yellow achieved with Alder plant matter, leaves and twigs. A pre process mordant is soya milk which the centre linen was soaked in.  Its a little too bright for my taste so I would use without mordant.

The left lace is with nettle dyebath, a very subtle dark cream, with hint of yellow-green in reality.

Flora used same weight as fabric.

Left: Ahimsa silk, folded in triangles along folded strips, to create 'resist' non-dyed areas. Right: Habotai silk scrunched and rubber band tied, to create abstract, cosmic or marbled effect.

Either of these can be used as a background, to hand paint over with other colours; this is a technique I will explore in the future as preparation for silk painting designs.  Flora's workshop used plant based mordants (colour intensifiers) but metallic mordants would produce different shades.

Stripes achieved by folding fabric and using rubber bands to keep tight, preventing dye penetrating fabric.

Ahimsa silk folded and clamped to resist dye penetration, results in pattern.

Cotton lace rolled and 2 rubber bands used to achieve resist un-dyed stripes.

Flora's workshops can be booked at her website:

Images copyright Amelia Jane Hoskins Please email for use permission.