In mid July I will be teaching natural dyeing at the Metchosin International Summer School of the Arts, a summer camp for adults in the most beautiful place in the world; Vancouver Island. The programming at MISSA consists of various of 2 and 5 full-day art classes that can be taken individually or one after another over the course of two weeks in July. For the full summer camp experience students are encouraged to purchase room and board in the beautiful ocean/woodsy location and there are opportunities for biking, kayaking, swimming, yoga in the mornings and you can even book a massage for after your day in class. In my five-day Natural Dyeing class we will work within a large range of natural colours including indigo on silk scarves, silk and linen yardage, as well as wool yarn. Students will learn about and practice mordanting, making natural dye extracts, immersion dyeing, shibori and botanical printing as well as creating an indigo stock solution and preparing, maintaining and troubleshooting two kinds of indigo vats. Each day will be spent preparing and watching over our natural dye pots and indigo vats, and manipulating our fabric with resist techniques. Everyone will go away with a collection of yardages and scarves as well as a sample book illustrating the colours and techniques we applied throughout the week. I have a couple of surprises up my sleeve, too. We are spending five-days together after all, so I'm bringing some extra tools and fun things for both during and after class hours. That's the only hint you get, hehe. It's going to be a lot of fun. MISSA has not yet posted their summer 2016 classes, but I'm giving you a heads up since they will put classes up on the website on February 1st and they fill up fast. For early access to registration you can sign up as a friend of MISSA for $20 here. Friends of MISSA get class schedules and can register for classes before they are announced to the public.
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This winter has felt especially long, I think because we are getting to know a new city, so we're not yet aware of all the inside activities that are available, nor do we have many friends (to visit). So, we've been spending a lot of time inside our apartment. At the end of one especially stormy week (we must have spent 3 full days inside) I was determined to get out of the house, and I thought it might be fun to entertain Sam with fabric in the wind. I think I had more fun playing with the silk than he did watching me.
Here are some of the silk scarves I've been lovingly creating these past few weeks. As you may be able to tell my favourite dye to work with is Brazilwood (the coral pink). I think it's the loveliest. My other faves are onion skin and logwood. There are some indigo one's on their way soon, as well as some lovely yellow with osage. I just put a bunch up on Etsy and they're on sale until the 22nd for half off, the best price I'll ever offer these at:) So, this is the time to get one if you've been eyeing them. I hope you're enjoying this long weekend. It is so nice and warm here in Montreal and is suppose to get as hot as 30 degrees tomorrow, yipeeeee. I'm off to knit in the park. xo Janna More printing with natural dyes. These photos aren't out of focus, the prints have just transferred that way, which I love.
My most recent eco-colour adventure included an epic bike ride with the hubby. Epic, since it resulted in us getting lost in Montreal...or off Montreal rather. We thought we were in Verdun, and when we asked for directions for the city centre of Verdun (for eats) we were given directions off the island--Nuns Island. We were pretty amazed that we ended up on another island without knowing it. It was a long ride to say the least.
On this island was a large patch of dark red leafy plants which I decided would be included in my next cold-bundle, along with some yellow onion skins we have been collecting during meal making. I wrapped the two in dry mordanted silk, wet it and then sat it in a shallow pool of brazilwood dye-stock-solution for a week. This morning I unwrapped it and VOILA! Happy day. Happy Janna |
About me:
I'm a west coast Canadian gal who after completing a BFA in Fibres at Concordia University in Montreal moved to the New York metropolitan area where I am pursuing my art practice while learning the ropes of motherhood.
June 2021
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