Mordanting Linen and Other Plant Based Fibres

Join us for a day exploring plant fibres and how to dye them effectively.

Plant fibres (e.g. cotton and linen) have a different structure to protein fibres (e.g. silk and wool) as a result they need to be mordanted differently to give the best colour results when dyed with natural dyes. This workshop will help you to create the best possible colours on plant based fibres.

The workshop facilitators are Romilly and Flow, who run a small, independent business called 'The Outside'. They have been dyeing with plants for more than 15 years. Romilly has completed a masters in Anglo-Saxon dyeing in Great Britain which provides an extensive understanding of dyeing through history and is underpinned by her knowledge of plants. Flow has a thorough understanding of mordants and their applications and has run multiple mordanting trials over the years and is skilled in wool processing. 

During the day we will:

Discuss different plant based fibres including how to prepare and scour them for mordanting and dyeing and why they may resist dye uptake.

Consider why plant based fibres require a more complex mordanting process than protein fibres (e.g wool and silk).

Use a range of locally gathered and grown, fresh and dried plants as sources of tannin and consider their advantages / disadvantages as part of the mordanting process.

Complete the mordanting process of a range of plant based fibre samples and 2 larger pieces of linen (tea towel size) that can subsequently be dyed either at home or during our 8 day Natural Dyeing Course