Tag: weaving

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Workshops

The date of the workshop has been changed to July. So for any of you who could not attend in February-this is your chance!  We will be processing (fermenting) our own indigo with the traditional method using only plants-then learning how to dye with it. The process of fermentation takes a few weeks to complete. But, in the meantime we will be busy dyeing with other plants from Mexico!

This is a hands-on workshop so you will be handling the dyes and the wet fibers. It’s best to wear old clothes or bring an apron. A hat will be helpful for walking to and from the cafe/bathroom.
Most students bring a notebook and pen for getting all the details of organic dyeing.

The workshop takes place outdoors, on a covered/shaded patio in “El Charco”-a botanical garden and land preserve in San Miguel de Allende, in Guanajuato. There is a small cafe on the grounds that serves freshly made breakfast and lunch.

Payments can be made directly to El Charco

For more information about El Charco
To contact El Charco
charcodelingenio@gmail.com

If you have any questions about the workshop please contact me using the contact me icon on my website.

TRAVEL AND LODGING INFORMATION

The closest airports are Queretero, Guanajuato and Leon, Guanajuato. The Mexico City airport is only about 4 hours by bus. (Do not hail a cab in Mexico City. Use only authorized taxi stands inside the airports and bus terminal) If you need help finding accomodations in San Miguel please let me know. San Miguel is a clean and very safe city. But, as with any city, use common sense when traveling.

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Workshop in San Miguel de Allende in el Charco del Ingenio

For a full week participants from Mexico and the U.S. learned the basics of organic dyeing at my outdoor workshop at el Charco Botanical Garden and Preserve in San Miguel de Allende. The location was gorgeous and spacious, and the staff at el Charco helped with every aspect of the workshop.

http://elcharco.org.mx/Ingles/boletin/boletinAugust.html#3

The first days we studied how to prepare the wool for dyeing and making dye baths with materials from local trees, flowers, husks of nuts, and ground seeds.  We obtained skeins of yellows, browns and greens from these dyes, and then we experimented with other types of cloth and silks.

Then the students learned how to dye with the bug, cochineal, which produces many shades of brilliant red, maroon, pink, and purple and if mixed will also produce many shades of orange. The students took turns grinding the cochineal in the “molcajete” –an ancient kind of mortar and pestle-and then dyeing the wool.

For the final days of the workshop we set up an indigo vat and began dyeing with indigo!  We obtained gorgeous shades of emerald green that, before our eyes, changed to blue when exposed to oxygen.  Then the students used some of our yellow yarn and obtained beautiful greens! One student, a renaissance artist, tied up his dyed yellow fabric before submerging it in the indigo vat and obtained a beautifully mottled green fabric.

Thanks to el Charco for designing the diplomas which the students received on Friday afternoon.

I am looking forward to teaching the next workshop at el Charco in February 2013.  I plan to do three weekends of organic dyes with a focus on indigo, which is the most time consuming of all the natural dyeing processes. But for now I am heading back to my Zapotec village, Teotitlan del Valle, in Oaxaca to meet with a group of tourists in my home to show them the basics of dyeing and weaving. Then we will celebrate the Day of the Dead-“Dia de los Muertos” !