Natural Dyes
International
HCR74, Box 21912, El Prado
New Mexico 87529
USA
800-665-9786
Exhibits
of natural dyed textiles
Dye Events
& conferences
Dye Instructions
teachers & classes
Supply Sources
for dyes & mordants
Dyed Textiles
clothing & weaving
natural dye & textile
Organizations
President
Robin Collier
Taos, NM USA
We are an international nonprofit organized to research natural dyes and pigments, share information and educate the public about the history of this rich tradition and the use of these natural materials.
Natural Dye Workshops
Instruction | Sources | Dyed Textiles | Organizations
Workshops | Exhibits | Natural Dye Events | Past Workshops
We are in the process of updating this page
Please come back soon for more current listings
Click on the links below to go to more detailed information about workshops.
Always check wth organizers for changes in plans for workshops.
Apr 3 - 4, 2008 Tucson, Arizona, USA
Natural Dye Workshop with Jane Hoffman
Mar 8 - 16, 2008 San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico
Mayan Backstrap Weaving & Natural Dye Workshop
Dec 1-10, 2007 Teotitlan, Oaxaca, Mexico
Murex, Cochineal, and Indigo! Natural Dye Workshop
Oct 28 to Nov 9 Granville Island, Vancouver, Canada
Maiwa Textile Symposium - Tradition & Revival
Post-symposium workshops
Oct 4 to Oct 28, 2007 Granville Island, Vancouver, Canada
Maiwa Textile Symposium: Tradition & Revival
Tues Oct 2 - Wed Oct 3, 2007 Taos, New Mexico USA
Taos Wool Festival - 2 day Natural Dye Workshop by Gail Denton
Sun Sep 16, 2007 Hemlock, New York USA
Finger Lakes Fiber Festival
Fantasic Colors from Natural Dyes Carol Wood & Debbie MacCrea
Sep 7 to Oct 4, 2007 Granville Island, Vancouver, Canada
Maiwa Textile Symposium - Tradition & Revival
Pre-symposium workshops
Aug 26 - 27, 2007 Hope Spinnery, Hope, Maine USA
Dyeing as if the Earth Mattered Michele Whipplinger
Aug 25 - 26 Waugh Mountain Ranch, Nutrioso, Arizona USA
Natural Dye Workshop with Jane Hoffman
Aug 22, 23 & 24, 2007 Westmoreland, New Hampshire USA
Wool Dyeing in the European Tradition Michele Whipplinger
Aug 16-19, 2007 Window Rock, Arizona USA
Weaving in Beauty Natural Dye Retreat
Apr 3 - 4, 2008 Tucson, Arizona, USA
Natural Dye Worskhop with Jane Hoffman
Twigs + Bugs + Flowers = Recipe for Color
Jane Hoffman offers her expertise to explore the world of plant and natural dyes in an intensive 2 day workshop. 9 - 4 pm. (Check time & date with organizers)
Discover nature's sources of color. Trained artists know that muted, natural colors are the workhorses of their palette. A good color palette consists of harmonious hues and a range of value and intensity that frame and offset intense pure hues. Yarn shops offer limited choices of colors, however you can fill in the blanks by learning to dye.
This comprehensive workshop shows you how to create beautiful, lightfast and washfast color from natural dyes. The emphasis in the workshop will be to create a range of value and intensity of colors. Jane will bring natural dye plants from her own dye garden, native and imported dye material. You will learn to prepare the dyes, to mordant, to dye protein fiber, and to experiment with color by using postmordant baths, afterbaths, and exhaust baths. Handling dyes safely will be covered.
Desert Weaving Workshop
514 South 6th Avenue • Tucson, AZ 85701
phone: 520.792.6665; toll free 888-792-6665.
Trip Guides: Anthropologist Chip Morris and Joshua Sage;
Presenters: Lucia Giron Mendez and Maddalena Forcella
A fabulous new nine-day workshop and journey into the world of the highland Mayan weavers! We’ll spend five days blissfully hard at work learning how to backstrap weave and natural dye with an occasional break for field trips to visit some of the nearby traditional Mayan villages and markets. Based in San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas, one of Mexico’s most beautiful and enjoyable colonial towns, there could not be a more lovely or culturally rich place to spend a peaceful week learning these textile arts and exploring the Mayan highlands.
Twenty hours of instruction in Mayan Backstrap weaving, including backstrap loom set up, wool warp/weft, and brocade design.Ten hours of instruction in natural dyeing methods, including cochineal, indigo, pericon, annins, and mud black.
Cost of $1,680 includes all lodging (double accommodation), daily breakfasts and 7 lunches or dinners, 20 hours weaving instruction, 10 hours dyeing instructions and materials, field trips to outlying villages.
Traditions Mexico - Hands-On Tours Full Details of the workshops
Email Eric Mindling to register or get more info.
Dec 1-10, 2007 Teotitlan, Oaxaca, Mexico
Murex, Cochineal, and Indigo! Natural Dye Workshop
A stained-hand workshop focused on Oaxaca's superstar dyes
Get you hand in the dye pot working with master dyers to learn their methods of working on wool with cochineal, indigo and other dyes in the Oaxaca highlands and travel to the Pacific coast to see murex dyeing with one of the last ancestral murex dyers on earth.
Our base camp will be the Mega-weaving village of Teotitlan del Valle where there are 5,000 weavers hard at work as well as a fat handful of top-notch natural dyers. This is the mother-land of Cochineal, and we’ll delve into its secrets, seeing how it is cultivated and harvested and working with master dyers to learn methods for direct cochineal dyeing with variable ph. as well as how to combine this little bug-dye with plants dyes to get even more tones. Oaxaca was also once a large producer of indigo and we’ll also dabble in the blues, learning how it is used by the weavers of Teotitlan.
Photo of gathering murex on the coast
Then we climb into a bush plane and take an excursion over the southern Sierra Madre and down to the rocky shoreline of the Pacific coast with its entrancing blue bays and warm waters to meet with one of the last ancestral murex dyers on the planet. Climbing in a fisherman’s launch we bounce to a remote location that is the lair of Purpura Panza, and the source of murex purple in the Americas. We’ll see how the dyeing is done, learn why it is still being done as well as see samples of what the Mixtec weavers make with this purple-dyed cotton thread..
Trip price of $2,100 includes all lodging (double occupancy), most meals, all local transport, entry fees, small group travel-6-10 passengers, two guides. Plus hands-on instruction in dyeing, round trip airfare from Oaxaca to Huatulco, and boat trip to murex shell dying beach
Traditions Mexico - Hands-On Tours Full Details of the workshop
Email Eric Mindling to register or get more info.
Oct 28 to Nov 9, 2007 Granville Island, Vancouver, Canada
Maiwa Textile Symposium - Tradition & Revival
Post-symposium workshops
Natural Dye Related Workshops
Stitched Shibori and Indigo: Oct. 15-16-17
Dabu Mud Printing: Oct. 18-19
Ajrakh: Block printing from the Desert: Oct. 22-23
Block printing master class: Oct. 24
Yoruba Cloth: Adire and Tie Dye: Oct. 26-27-28
Full List of Workshops and details - Registration
6-1666 Johnston Street, Granville Island, Vancouver, BC Canada V6H 3S2
Tel 604 669 3939 - Fax 604 669 0609
Oct 4 to Oct 28, 2007 Granville Island, Vancouver, Canada
Maiwa Textile Symposium - Tradition & Revival
Film
In Search of Lost Colours: The Story of Natural Dyes
produced by Maiwa Productions, will be shown for the first time at a symposium screening on October 26.
Lectures
Waiting for the Monsoon: Slow Clothes in India
Charllotte Kwon, Mahesh Dosaya
The Mummies of Ürümchi: Textiles in Time
Elizabeth Barber
Culture in Costume: Textiles of the Miao People
Tomoko Torimaru
The Intimate Stitch: Blueleaf Shibori
Jane Callender
Choreographed Cloth
Angelina DeAntonis
From the Heart: A Weaver’s Journey
Bhakti Ziek
Kismet, Ajrakh, and the Fish of Knowledge:
Collaborating with Craftspeople in India
Eiluned Edwards
Threads of Time: Afghan and Iranian Textiles
John Gillow
Masters of the Art:
The Khatri Blockprinters of Dhamadka and Ajrakhpur
Razzaque Mohammed Khatri,
Ismail Mohammed Khatri, Eiluned Edwards
The Indus Runs Through It: Textile Arts of Pakistan
Noorjehan Bilgrami
The Independent Artist: Working to Commission
Lucy Goffin
Reel and Weave: The Silkspinner’s Story
Karen Selk
The Cotton Road: Indian Textile Trade
Rosemary Crill
African Textiles: The Heart of the Yoruba
Gasali Adeyemo
Full details of Symposium - Registration
6-1666 Johnston Street, Granville Island, Vancouver, BC Canada V6H 3S2
Tel 604 669 3939 - Fax 604 669 0609
Tues Oct 2 - Wed Oct 3, 2007 Taos, New Mexico USA
Taos Wool Festival - 2 day Natural Dye Workshop by Gail Denton
This precedes the Taos Wool Festival held Oct 6 & 7, 2007.
Natural Dye Basics for Wool and Wool Blends
Instructor: Gail L. Denton
$200 Max Students: 12 (not recommended for pregnant women)
Skill Level: Beginner dyers welcome. Emphasis is on safe dye procedures.
Description: Explore the world of brilliant natural colors, using traditional dyestuffs for protein fibers such as wool, mohair and wool/silk blends. Learn how to use safe, eco-friendly natural dye extracts and non-toxic mordants to fix and subtly shift the shades. Your sample book will expand from single dye colors to complex color recipes, creating over 60 repeatable colors! Dip into the indigo pot for the blues, greens and periwinkles. Over dye one color with another for rich color depth. And layer multiple colors of dye on wool cloth to explore the possibilities.
Materials Fee: $65. Students will take home a treasure of over 60 color samples, a full palette range including all recipes and a complete instruction notebook. Instructor will supply all materials and an appropriate face mask.
Students Bring: Bring note taking materials, rubber gloves and old clothes. Instructor will supply complete student supplies list in advance.
http://www.taoswoolfestival.org/workshops.html
email: info@taoswoolfestival.org
Sun Sep 16, 2007 Hemlock, NY USA
Finger Lakes Fiber Festival
Fantasic Colors from Natural Dyes
Carol Wood & Debbie MacCrea
Participants will learn about the natural dye process, wool-handling, basic color theory, and safety considerations. Participants will gain hands-on experience with the processes of dyeing on wool and silk with natural materials, a range of color possibilities (achieved through the use of mordants, assists, single-and multi-color dyestuffs, including indigo), and how to record their dyeing results for further exploration. Each student will take home samples of approximately 25 colors from 4 to 5 dyepots, complete instructions/recipes, a reference list and list of suppliers. Participants will have breaks during the day to shop the Festival.
Registration ends August 30th. No registration at festival. Minimum of 4, maximum of 12 students. Cost: $50 + $35 supplies fee Time: All Day Sunday
http://www.gvhg.org/festworkshops.html Email: FestWorkshops@gvhg.org
Sep 15 & Sep 22, 2007 Suffolk Moors Farm, School Lane, Hollesley, Woodbridge, UK
The Art of Natural Dyeing
The Natural Dye Studio £25. At Suffolk Moors Farm, School Lane, Hollesley, Woodbridge IP12 3RF.
Details: phone 01394 411500
Sep 7 to Oct 4, 2007 Granville Island, Vancouver, Canada
Maiwa Textile Symposium - Tradition & Revival
Pre-symposium workshops
Natural Dye Related Workshops
Indigo Shibori: Sept. 15-16
Natural Dyes: Sept. 21-22-23
Colour Institute 1: Sept. 27-28-29
Botanical Colour: Oct. 1-2-3
Colour Institute 2: October 4-5-6
Full List of Workshops and details - Registration
6-1666 Johnston Street, Granville Island, Vancouver, BC Canada V6H 3S2
Tel 604 669 3939 - Fax 604 669 0609
Aug 26 - 27, 2007 Hope Spinnery, Hope, Maine USA
Dyeing as if the Earth Mattered
Introduction to Natural Dyes with Wool Fleece by Michele Whipplinger of Earthues.
In this workshop, we’ll learn how to develop tinctures with natural dye extracts, and create beautiful hues. Working with the ancient dyes and specialty colors from around the globe, participants will learn how to create brilliant effects through immersion dyeing with wool fleece and yarn, using only non-toxic mordants and a unique 4-step method to create luscious colors from one dyepot. Michele Wipplinger of Earthues introduced the concept of natural dye extracts to the US textile industry, and has worked extensively with these dyes for over a decade. She will share her secrets, hints and tips for dyeing with extracts, and provide information on how to dye with respect to our natural resources. This workshop will be held at Hope Spinnery in Hope, Maine…a wind-powered fiber processing mill and natural dye studio.
Cost for class is $200-320 with a materials fee of $50-100 per participant. For more information please contact Hope Spinnery 207 763 4600 or Earthues 206 789 1065 or info@earthues.com
Aug 25 - 26 Waugh Mountain Ranch, Nutrioso, Arizona USA
Natural Dye Workshop with Jane Hoffman
This comprehensive natural dye workshop will show you how to create beautiful, lightfast and washfast color from natural dyes. Jane will bring natural dye plants from her own dye garden and imported dye material. Using Llama and Alpaca fiber you will learn to prepare natural dyes, to mordant, to dye protein fiber, and to experiment with color 
by using postmordant baths, afterbaths, and exhaust baths.
This year we will be dying grey, fawn, and white or beige roving which will be ready to spin after it is dyed. Using the colored fiber will give us exciting overdye results and demonstrate how any color natural fiber can be dyed for beautiful results.
Workshop participants will acquire the skill to safely dye protein fiber with natural dyes. You will take home recipes that dyers use to extract a variety of shades and range of intensity from natural dyes. From four different dye materials, we will create 16 to 20 plus hues and values. At the end of the workshop, participants will have approximately 20 mini skeins of dyed fiber, handouts and cards with recorded results and attached samples.
$65 per person or $110 per couple + $20 materials fee per person
Kids 12 yrs and older are welcome (cost for kids is the same to cover materials and food) No special skills or prior experience are needed! Breakfast and lunch will be served both days of the workshop.
The llama and alpaca fiber yarn will be supplied by Waugh Mountain Ranch.
Waugh Mountain Ranch, PO Box 442, Alpine, AZ 85920
(928) 339-4244.
Aug 22, 23 & 24, 2007 Westmoreland, New Hampshire USA
Wool Dyeing in the European Tradition
Workshop at Long Ridge Farm by Michele Whipplinger of Earthues.
Using methods that she learned from her studies in France, Michele shows ancient ways to get a 5-step gradation in hue and value from one dyepot. You will be amazed at the complex, intriguing colorways you can create through this simple system. Participants will work with natural dye extracts to get beautiful color changes and gradations on skeins of yarn suitable for knitters. A multitude of colors will be dyed, including indigo. Class includes lecture, discussion of dye chemistry, a full notebook, a view of Michele's ethnographic textile collection, and information on the dyes.
Course fee is $395, which includes all materials For more information, contact Nancy Zeller at 603-313-8393 or email at longridge@verizon.net.
Past Workshops - Look here for past workshops which may have potential contacts for future workshops that may happen in your area.
Contact us at 800-665-9786 or by email to add your event to this listing