Creative Colour 1: An Introduction to Dyeing runs from July 8 – 24, 2022
This class is now FULL for 2022!
Workshop Fee: $195.00 USD
Have you always wanted to learn how to dye your own silk fabrics and wool fibres? In this class, you will learn the basics of acid dyeing on protein fibres, to get gorgeous colours in hand-dyed materials that are unique to you!
I’ve designed this class to introduce you to this beautiful world of colour, with the smallest possible investment in tools and materials. We work with acid dyes that are easy to use and have the lowest environmental impact in synthetic dyes.
We will explore:
- Setting Up your Dye Space- Hardware and Safe Dyeing Practice
- Dyes and Fixatives
- Mixing Stock Solutions
- Preparing Your Fibre
- Depth of Colour- dye samples with set different amount of dye
- Basic Colour Blends- hand-dyed colour wheel of silk or fibre!
- Overdyeing
This class works for both those of you who are the planners, who prefer to work with precise measurements to get exacting and repeatable results and those of you who prefer to work more freely, mixing and adding colour as you dye. The class instructions allow you to work in whatever way best suits you, or to discover and explore this to see what you prefer and integrate this great tool into your creative process.
This is an introductory class for beginning dyers- those of you with an interest in learning to dye your own silk fabrics, wools, prefelt and finished felts, but without too much initial investment in time or materials! We cover all the basics.
Most of the pictures show bright, saturated colour, but if you prefer soft or more earthy colours, we’ll cover how to get there also! Don’t worry! Playing with blends is so much fun!
I started dyeing in 1996, the same year I started felting. Over the years I’ve dyed thousands of metres of silk, kilos of wool, silk and mohair fibres, and many of my own finished felt pieces, in both acid dyes and natural dyes. In 2002, I started selling my hand-dyed fibres to alternative schools and natural toy and craft retailers. I’ve created lines of clothing that were all hand-dyed and ran a dye studio called Kattikloo, dyeing and selling hand-painted yarns and fibres. For a few years, I only made my feltwork in white- practising making the most even, fine felt possible, and then overdyeing these finished felt projects.
I’ve worked with many types of dyes and dye applications over the last 25 years, changing up what types of dyes I use and when I apply them in my work- fabric fibres, and prefelts. We’ll look at all of these and I look forward to sharing with you my favourite methods! Creating colour is a glorious exercise!
Note: this class is the introduction to my future Advanced Dyeing class. In this next class, Creative Colour 2, we take these studies further, looking at:
- Advanced Gradient Dyeing
- Extensive Colour Blending
- Immersion Dyeing and Handpainting-including fibres, prefelt and finished felt, as well as yarns and silk threads for embroidery
- Extra Setting Methods
- Shibori- stitches, knots, clamp resist, and arashi.
Workshop Dates: July 8 – 24, 2022
This class is now FULL for 2022!
Workshop Fee: $195.00 USD
The full materials list is available HERE.
I will be available in the online classroom, to answer questions and offer feedback on work, every day during the 2 weeks of the workshop.
Online teaching materials and resources are available to students for 6 months from the start of the class.
If you have any questions about how these online classes work, try reading through the FAQ’s here.
Please do email Fiona if you have any questions about the class.