Teaching and photographing a natural dye workshop at Loanda Flowers

20 Jul

*Hanging up their naturally dyed silk scarves to photograph and dry*

Making plant dyes for silk ribbons for florists was a core of my business for over 6 years. I skill that I took a great deal of time and effort to perfect over the years and invested a lot of time experimenting and practicing with all sorts of natural dyes, foraged, grown myself and bought in. So it was a real pleasure to begin my online course ‘Gathered Colour’ during the pandemic, to reach people across the UK and further afield in Europe and Australia too. But it was with great joy that I returned to face to face teaching at Loanda Flowers this summer.

Teaching these talented ladies was so much fun - they really are in love with all things floral, and I just know that this extra skill they are learning from me will blossom into something wonderful. We explored the basic dye processes as well as eco printing and bundle dyeing and looked in depth at the current market within the UK for silk ribbons and hand dyed items within the wedding industry. It was good to share my insights into the business side of things as well as the actual dye process itself.

My 1-2-1 (or in this case 1-2-3!) sessions begin with an in depth workbook and kit list sent a few weeks ahead of the day itself, to allow the set up to be just right and all the fabrics and dye kit essentials to be purchased. Then on the day itself we can concentrate on getting the process understood and correct, as well as investigating what is currently growing on the flower farm that might have good dye potential.

“Kate’s enthusiasm, knowledge and expertise is truly remarkable! We had an absolutely wonderful day learning the art of silk dyeing! So many new business possibilities and we’re sure we’ve found the right person in Kate to guide us. Thank you Kate.”

And of course I couldn’t resist bringing my camera along and capturing some of the fun along the way!

If you’d like to book onto the next run of my online course you can do so here (the early bird price is on until the end of August).

if you’d like to get a quote for your own 1-2-1 face to face session I do a limited number of these each year. Get in touch to find out more or comment below with your questions!