Natural Dyeing with Indigo

Enjoy a day exploring natural indigo dye for textiles in the beautiful Garden Gallery of the Museum of Farnham, with natural dye artists from Farnham Crafts Quarter, Ginny Farquhar and Samantha Jones.

Your day will begin by learning about two indigo bearing plants, which are grown at the museum (Japanese indigo and woad), including advice on how to grow them yourself.

You will then create two indigo vats using natural indigo powder. Whilst these are settling, you will harvest and work with fresh Japanese indigo leaves and use direct processes to capture the colour on cloth.

After lunch you will be guided in exploring patterning fabrics using simple shibori and itajame techniques. These pieces, plus plain fabric and fibre will then be dyed in the indigo vats where you will really experience the magical process of yellow/green cloth turning into blue before your eyes.

The day will have lots of opportunity for discussion and questions and will also cover health and safety, fibre preparation and recipes.