Hand Painted Cloth Using Natural Dyes
Two Day Workshop led by Casey Newman
All skill levels welcome
Registration: $245
Materials fee: $35
Part of the 2024 Newport Paper & Book Arts Festival (Celebrating our 27th year!)
Bring the colors of nature into your bookmaking work! In this two day workshop students will learn to transform flowers, roots, leaves, and other natural materials into permanent fabric paint and then use those paints to create beautiful hand painted and stamped designs on fabric. Most materials used are things that can easily be gathered or grown locally with a couple sustainably sourced materials to round out our color palette. No painting experience is necessary! Students will learn simple techniques that create stunning designs and the possibilities for creativity are endless.
On day 1 we will make the natural fabric paints in a variety of colors – both bright and earth tones – and learn to mix and dilute paints to increase the palette even more. Students will learn numerous techniques to create designs and will spend the afternoon hand painting and stamping several pieces of cloth. On day 2 students will set the dyes so they will be permanent and washable. We will also reuse some of the natural materials from the previous day to dye bookbinding thread and make simple inks to decorate paper.
At the end of this workshop students will go home with a variety of hand painted fabric in assorted sizes, paper decorated with natural inks, and some naturally dyed thread. Most importantly, they will have the knowledge to continue their natural dye journey at home and a new connection to the beauty of nature.
This two-day workshop is one of many offered as part of the 2024 Newport Paper and Book Arts Festival. To attend, click below to register for the festival, and select this workshop when prompted…
To learn more, visit www.coastarts.org/npbaf
Casey Newman is a naturalist and a botanical print and natural dye artist who incorporates nature into her work in a variety of ways. With a masters degree in ecology and an interest in fiber arts that began in childhood, she loves that natural dyeing blends both science and art. She is known for teaching the why of best practices to create lasting color in clear, easy-to-understand ways, while embracing the unexpected, the magic, if you will, that occurs when co-creating with nature. Casey’s botanical printing work is centered around northwest native plants and she is inspired by living and working at Cedar Dell Forest Farm on the outskirts of Gresham, OR, where she grows a variety of dye plants, wanders the woods in search of treasures, and teaches classes for curious and creative people of all ages.