In Person Workshops
Botanical Watercolors
Cultus Bay Gardens on Whidbey Island Washington
August 2nd, 2025
10 - 4 pm
Natural watercolors can bring both delicate and powerful colors to your artwork. Compact and perfect for traveling, a set of handmade, natural watercolors will be a delightful companion! During this workshop, we will learn how to extract colors from botanical sources and convert them into non-soluble lake pigments, which can then be mulled into watercolor paints. Participants will practice making a lake pigment from a dye-producing flower from start to finish. Many materials will be collected before the workshop, but we will walk the property and discuss ways to identify color-producing plants. During the second half of the workshop, we will mix up custom watercolor palettes from botanical lake pigments. You will leave with six half-pans of watercolor paint and a storage box.
Techniques covered in the workshop include identifying sources of color in nature, converting a dye bath into a lake pigment, paint binder recipes & optional additives, blending pigments to create secondary colors, and mulling pigments into watercolor paints.
Natural Inks
Cultus Bay Gardens on Whidbey Island Washington
August 3rd, 2025
10 - 4 pm
Natural inks offer an intense and unique color range that watercolors cannot achieve. Many natural materials work well as ink but not as watercolor, and we will learn to differentiate these qualities in this workshop. Starting with foraged materials, we will make dye-based inks from start to finish. We will extend the color range by manipulating pH, mixing in minerals, and combining multiple pigments. You will leave with six unique 1 oz ink bottles made together during the workshop.
Techniques covered in this workshop include identifying sources of color in nature, making dye-based inks, making lake pigment-based inks, ink binder recipes, extending the color range with iron, copper, & pH, and making UV reactive mushroom ink!
Natural Dyes of Tennessee
Kelley Creek Farm Rockvale, Tennessee
July 12th, 2025
10 - 4 pm
Come explore the vibrant world of natural color in the Southeast as we learn about foraged and grown plants and fungi that can be used to dye textiles.
Attendees will learn how to prepare textiles and select suitable dye sources to achieve vibrant, lasting colors while considering how different fiber types, such as cotton, linen, silk, and wool, influence dye uptake. We will explore extending the natural color palette with modifiers such as iron and indigo. Each participant will leave with a stack of local color swatch cards, a hand-dyed silk & cotton handkerchief, and written information to replicate these processes at home. Additional mordanted textiles will be available to purchase and can be dyed during the workshop.
