Fiber Arts as Book Arts: Natural Dyeing

Course Code: 26STX100V

This in-person workshop takes place on Thursday, January 29th, from 6:30PM to 8:30PM ET

• Thursday, January 29th, 6:30PM to 8:30PM ET

Please Note: Registration for this workshop closes on January 15th, at 11:59pm Eastern Time.

About the Workshop:

Participants in this workshop will learn multiple plant-based dyeing and printing methods using kitchen and yard waste. We will start by learning how to identify natural versus manufactured fibers (fabrics and yarns), and how to set up a safe fabric and paper dyeing studio at home. The instructor will explain how to prep fabric for dyeing, including how to safely scour and mordant fiber. She will describe how different types of fibers interact with and absorb natural dyes; how to responsibly harvest and forage for natural materials in your neighborhood; and how to begin to identify plants, kitchen waste and spices that are safe to use and yield color. The instructor will also provide resources for learning more about local plants. 

Participants will complete two projects which intersect natural dyeing and print-making — bundle dyeing and petal and leaf pounding. Finally, the instructor will discuss immersion or dip dyeing, and solar dyeing, and will share examples of artists’ books made with dyed fabric, yarn and thread.

This workshop is part one in a four part series which also covers kitchen printing, embroidery, and fiber book forms.

Required Materials:

Please have these items prepared prior to the workshop to ensure you will have time to complete the entire project:

• Un-dyed fabric with natural fibers (cotton, wool, linen, or silk), pre-treated. To pre-treat the fabric, please see the slides below with thorough information about fabric prep and more about natural dyeing. 
• A pot for dye-making to be used only for dyeing - not food prep, cooking or eating. The pot needs to be non-reactive metal (stainless steel or enamel-coated cast iron), or a plastic water heater, like this example.
• Steamer or aluminum foil
• Access to a sink and water
• Un-dyed yarn
• Natural dye materials. Examples include onion skins (red or yellow), hibiscus flower petals, acorns, avocado skins and pits washed to remove all fruit, turmeric, black beans, sunflower petals and heads, eucalyptus leaves, purple leaf sandcherry tree leaves, echinacea, black eyed Susans. Before electing to use a plant for dyeing not listed above, please Google it first and check for any potential animal or human toxicities, especially if you have pets or children at home. 

Optional:

• a small hammer, ball-peen hammer or mallet
• Nitrile, vinyl or rubber gloves

About the Workshop:

Iviva Olenick is a Brooklyn-based artist developing textiles from seed to fiber and dye and using textiles as texts.Her work has been exhibited all over the United States, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art; Museum of Design Atlanta; the Hunterdon Museum, NJ; Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling, NYC; the Center for Book Arts, NYC; the Old Stone House, Brooklyn; Wyckoff House Museum, Brooklyn.
Olenick is a faculty member of SVA’s MFA Art Practice program where she teaches Fibers. In addition, she gives artist talks and designs intensive textile-based workshops for museums and universities.

All images courtesy of the instructor.