Natural Dyes Class

Learn how to dye with natural products and other Printing courses in Sydney.

It’s foraging, it’s local, it’s seasonal, but it’s not for eating… Discover how to dye and print with foraged flowers, leaves from your neighbourhood and healing herbs, food scraps from your kitchen and household items.

Join this full-day workshop to learn the basics of natural dyeing, easy mordants, and how you can set this up at home to keep exploring this art form.

In this practical beginners course, you will explore a variety of natural hand dyeing and colour application techniques and create your own fabulous effects on silk fabric using natural methods and materials. Create colour with food, healing herbs, teas, scraps for composting, foraged flowers, fallen and fresh leaves!

Plus learn how we can alter colour with different items from around your home and kitchen cupboard. We can use food waste to create earthy pinks, golden oranges, soft blues, sunshine yellows, light browns, smokey greys. There’s a palette of possibilities!

Ideal for

This is a beginners course, so no previous design, dye or printing experience is required.

Course content

• How to gather and reuse materials in your home for sustainable and zero-waste dyeing
• Gathered flowers, leaves and food waste to make dye vats in array of colours
• Use different foods and items to alter tones and shades of colour
• How to mordant your fabrics (pretreat for dyeing) with food instead of chemicals
• Learn how to create different dyeing effects
• Learn some basic eco printing techniques and effects
• Learn some basic compost dyeing techniques and effects

Materials provided

• Handwoven silk scarf (rrp $90 each)
• Unbleached cotton for colour samples
• Organic Merino wool piece to use in class
• Linen table runner to use during class (rrp $75)
• Unbleached cotton tote bag to use and dye in class
• Seasonal, natural materials (berries, flowers & plants) all homegrown by Samorn
• Digital notes

Please bring to class

• A garment made from natural fabric to dye (apart from your scarf)
• Some pre-washed natural fabric to dye (1-2m)
• 4-5 empty jars to take home your dyes
• Any local berries, food scraps or flowers you wish to use for dyeing
• An old shirt or apron to wear while dyeing
• A notepad and pen or tablet to take notes
• Lunch, water and snacks – it is a long day!

Other information

• Please wear closed-in shoes and old clothes
• All dyeing materials are natural and non-toxic – but may cause allergies. Please contact us to discuss if you are allergic to any plants, flowers, vegetables or berries

Please note: This class requires a minimum number of students to run. In the unlikely event that we don't get this number of students, we'll cancel the class; in this case we'll inform and fully refund you, so please watch your email/SMS 1 day prior to the class

• Glass Fusing Class: Kiln Fired Glass Platters, at Fri 31 Jan at 9am

• Japanese Boro Stitching Workshop, at Sat 1 Feb at 10am

• Natural Skin Care Class: Body Care, at Sat 1 Feb at 10am

• Fondant Cake Decoration Class, at Sat 1 Feb at 10am

• Chocolate Workshop: Tempering, Moulding and More, at Sun 2 Feb at 1pm

This workshop is perfect for a birthday, hens party, team building activity, corporate event, bucks party or Christmas party.

Sydney Community College - 2A Gordon St Rozelle

Samorn Sanixay

Samorn Sanixay was born in Laos and the co-founder of Eastern Weft, a weaving cooperative based in Vientiane, Laos. She arrived as a refugee in Australia with her family when she was only 3 years old. Samorn graduated from Griffith University with a B. Arts in Modern Asian Studies (majoring in Political Science) and has Diploma in Japanese language. With almost has almost 15 years experience in sustainable textile manufacturing, Samorn loves to share her knowledge and ignite passion for sustainable craft and textile production!

"Sustainability and Zero Waste is very much a natural part of what we do. We focus on connecting with nature, with the land. As with most indigenous cultures, we work together with the land and build up a knowledge base on which plants can be eaten, used for medicinal purposes and as a source of colour for painting or natural dyes (incl. dirt and minerals), or to build houses.

We’d like people to think about where and how their textiles are made, sourced etc. to be more thoughtful and mindful, they can help change the world even it if is on a small scale.

We want to connect people with one another and also with the environment. Everything starts and ends with nature. In our highly developed societies, I feel we are very disconnected. We’ve lost the knowledge of how things are made, the skills involved, the materials we use, and every human being involved in the process. Once you start asking questions, the answers are even more fascinating. It’s a journey of finding and exploring the process of going back to nature and moving forward."

Sydney Community College

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Sydney Community College is a social enterprise with a mission to offer innovative continuing adult education programmes that support individual efforts and facilitate sustainable social change.

Our mission is to enrich lives, to strengthen adult individuals and to build communities through innovative high quality continuing education and training.