Workshop - One Pot Palette - Plant Fibres

by - Sunday, April 20, 2014


[2014 Symposium registration opens June 23 at 10am.]

2014 Maiwa Textile Symposium
Workshop One Pot Palette - Plant Fibres
Danielle Bush & Sophena Kwon

$250 includes 85 lab fee
September 15, 16 - Class Limit 14
Maiwa East: 1310 Odlum Drive, Vancouver BC



No palette can match the harmony and subtle beauty of natural dyes. In this workshop we will explore that potential using the One Pot Palette, a technique that conserves water, dye material, and space.

Students will work with cotton, hemp, and linen yarns. With plant fibres, we will learn the magical potential of using mordants and tannins before dyeing. We will also look at the different effects that can be achieved by adding mordants and tannins after dyeing. While working through a palette, students will also learn how to achieve tone on tone and colour gradations.

The class will cover the fundamental principals of natural dye use as well as the tools and techniques to intuitively work through their own one pot palette. 

Students will leave the workshop with a generous stash of yarns in different plant fibres that can be used toward  a future project. 

Instructor Bios:

Danielle Bush is on staff at Maiwa Supply and one of our instructors. Her career in textiles began with sewing and fashion studies at the University of the Fraser Valley. Upon completing courses in design, drawing, drafting, and construction, she was accepted to Maiwa Handprints to do a week-long practicum in the textile collection. In her words: “It changed my life.” 

A veteran assistant for numerous workshops, Danielle is also the Maiwa sample dyer. In 2009 Danielle represented Maiwa at the ISS (shibori conference) held in France, and in 2011 she was a facilitator for the Maiwa Natural Dye Master Class taught by Michel Garcia in Bengal, India. Showing a natural understanding and aptitude for dye techniques, Danielle is a welcome addition to our roster of instructors.

Sophena Kwon has grown up with Maiwa as a family business. In 2009 she studied with Michel Garcia in France, in 2010 and 2011 she assisted with the natural dye workshops in Peru and India. In 2012 she co-taught with Charllotte Kwon at the Penland School of Crafts and in 2013 she assisted in natural dye troubleshooting at the Living Blue Cooperative in Bangladesh. In addition to her natural dye work she is also a skilled clothing designer and photographer.

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7 comments

  1. I'd love to attend both the one-pot workshops - but I live in Toronto and can't make it out to Vancouver this year. Any chance of either recording them as videos or publishing them as a book?

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    1. Hi Helena ! We have spent a long time developing this workshop and are very excited to finally bring it to the public. As it is our first time teaching this specific workshop it will currently only be available to the students in attendance. Hopefully we will be asked again to teach it for Symposium 2015. We would love to take this workshop on the road too so maybe in the future we will be closer to you. For now, you can get a lot of information from the Maiwa Natural Dye Instructions we have created as a free pdf - it is an invaluable source for dyers.

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  2. I'd love to learn about this but I live in Saint Lucia (Caribbean) - I'm part of a study that's looking at the revival of natural dyes here - we have a lot of campeche (logwood) left over from the days when we used to export it - but also have a bit of indigo, turmeric, annatto and other plants - we're just starting to look at what's here and what the feasibility of producing and using dyes is...is there perhaps a book or video/cd that could be bought?

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    Replies
    1. Natural dyes are a wonderful exploration and it sounds like you have a generous availability of dyes at hand! Logwood is one of our favourites too! You can get shades of purple to violet and even push your colour to navy. Figure out what it is that you want to dye (fabric or yarns) and whether it is cellulose based or protein based. Once you know this you can find the right recipe that works for you and do some testing with your local dyes. We have a free 'Natural Dye Instructions' and 'Indigo Vat Instructions' that you can download to get you going. There are also a lot of great books and DVDs available on our website. A couple books that come to mind are 'Wild Colour', 'The Art and Craft of Natural Dyeing' & 'Koekboya'

      The Michel Garcia DVD 'The Natural Dye Workshop' is a great source as well!

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    2. Thanks! Yes, mostly cellulose fibres here but we are looking at leather too. I had no idea you could get a navy from logwood - interesting!
      thanks for the recommended books and DVD too - will check them out and the free quides of course (if I haven't already downloaded them!)

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  3. Here is the URL for our free instructions:

    http://www.maiwa.com/stores/supply/instructions.html

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  4. Hi,

    I tried this one-pot palette technique on some cotton fabric. It worked really well for the first two or three colours, but after that, the next two colours looked the same. What did I do wrong?
    I began with Marigold, added Brazilwood, then added Logwood and then Cutch. I used the percentages in your dye handout available online.
    I calculated percentages based on changing WOF as I removed swatches from the pot. Maybe I shouldn't have done that?

    Would love to have some help with this!

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