Last weekend I took a two day workshop at Wildcraft called Pattern Play & Natural Dyes.
Day 1 | Dye Paste Samples
The first day of the workshop covered creating dye pastes and three techniques for application. The pastes included alum and different percentages of iron. We got to make two 12″ x 12″ cotton samples at each technique station. It’s pretty cool how the different pastes would determine how the dye would adhere to the cloth.
These are my stencil samples that were later dyed in cutch and madder.
These samples were block printed and dyed in pomegranate and logwood.
The last technique was hand painting. These were dyed in weld and lac.
Day 2 | Immersion Dye
Our samples dried over night and then we dissolved the paste using a process called dunging. After the paste was removed from the cloth, the samples went into the dye pots along with blank cotton bandanas that were pre-treated.
I chose to dye my bandana in cutch and then we had a little time to design. I threw a quick sketch together and decided to use the stenciling process.
We again used different dye pastes that were painted on to the dyed cloth, but this time titanium and citric acid were in the mix. The titanium practically removed the dye.
We were sent home with dunging supplies and after my bandana dried overnight, I dissolved the paste and let my bandana dry. I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out.
This workshop was a lot of fun and I would really like to try this at home.
