Join me on Saturday 29th March 2025 from 10.30 - 13.30 in my garden studio in Faversham, Kent for a morning of botanical dyeing.

Natural dyeing is a process that uses botanical ingredients to dye cloth in ways that have been used for thousands of years. It is petro-chemical free, 100% natural, slow and sustainable.

Dyeing with plants encourages the dyer to build a strong connection with their natural surroundings and experience the seasons in a new light. Plant ingredients suitable for dyeing can be sourced through foraging (Nuts, leaves, berries, bark), growing (Flowers & herbs) as well as everyday plant based food waste.

This introductory workshop is suitable for beginners and you will learn the skills needed to continue your practice at home.

We will talk through simple steps for how to prepare different fabrics through scouring and mordanting and share techniques to avoid disappointing results. We will work with dye baths created from foraged seasonal ingredients and dye extracts and we will then dye a range of swatches, using modifiers to obtain a broader palette and begin to build a colour journal. You will then have the opportunity to dye a silk or bamboo silk square which can be used as a scarf, hair ribbon or for wrapping gifts.

We will discuss the different natural ingredients that can be used to create a wide palette of colours, responsible foraging and tips on what to look out for throughout the seasons.

All materials will be provided, there will be a worksheet & notebook for you to keep as well as all samples made during the workshop. Please bring an apron or wear old clothes that you wouldn’t mind getting marked.

The workshop is limited in place numbers to ensure a safe working environment.

Tickets are non-refundable.

The workshop will take place at my home studio in Faversham, Kent. There will be refreshments at the beginning so that we can get to know each other.

Faversham is a pretty market town, connected to the sea via the Swale Estuary which runs into the town. It has historical buildings, a boatyard & is famous for the Shepherd Neame brewery and long ago, for its gunpowder. Faversham is an hour by car or train from London and is close to Whitstable, Canterbury & Elmley Nature Reserve. My home is just a three minute walk from the station.

Images one & two by Maria Bell