Vicky Way
Vicky Way is a Textile Designer with 20 years of teaching experience. She has an MA in Design from the Royal College of Art and enjoys combining her love of textiles, horticulture and science.
Growing colour for textiles – creating a dye garden with Vicky Way
Ref: S1D37571
About this course
Plan your own natural dye garden, choosing the most suitable plants for your site. Learn propagation advice and be inspired by the natural dye and cutting garden here at West Dean Gardens.
Course Description
On this course, you will discover the many exciting plants that can be used for natural dyes, learning about heritage dye plants and others that yield colour.
Whether you are planning to start a dye garden to extend your own creative practice or setting one up in a community area, this course covers all considerations. We look at plant yield, soil pH, irrigation, sunlight hours, harvesting and storage. Discover innovative ways to create raised beds and discuss watering systems and accessibility. Monthly tasks are listed so you can start a dye garden journal.
Natural dye plants increase biodiversity; they are non-toxic and offer a great way to connect craft projects to the local environment. In a practical afternoon workshop, we will set up a selection of solar dyeing jars, so you can start some wool yarn samples using dried flowers from the West Dean natural dye and cutting garden.
At the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Design your own natural dye garden
- Plan your monthly tasks
- Explore solar dyeing in jam jars
- Take away a seed starter kit
Course Materials
Included
On this course, the tutor will supply all of the materials, including:
- A small booklet with growing advice
- Fineliners and tracing paper
- Pre-mordanted British wool and jam jars for solar dyeing
- A small selection of dye plant seeds
What students need to bring
- pens, pencils, notebook and a camera phone would be useful
- a photo of the potential dye garden site and approximate measurements would be helpful, but not essential.
- Please wear suitable clothing and footwear for outside sessions.
Available to buy
Available from shop:
- Notebooks
- Pens
- Sketchbooks
Additional information
Please wear appropriate clothing/aprons for the workshop or studio, this includes stout covered footwear (no sandals or open toes).
Please wear suitable clothing and footwear for outside sessions.
Timetable
Student registration: 9.15am-9.30am
Course teaching: 9.30am-5pm
Morning session: 9.30am-1pm
Lunch break: 1pm-2pm (lunch included)
Afternoon session: 2pm-5pm
Teaching finishes: 5pm
General Information
Tutors
