Throughout history people have coloured fabric with local plants and minerals. In this workshop with textile artist Natalie Linney, you will explore some heritage dyeing and natural printmaking techniques to embellish a tote bag with nature’s colours.
The workshop will begin with an introduction to the traditional methods you’ll be using, looking at some of Natalie’s work, made using natural and man-made objects found in the contemporary urban environment.
You will begin to work on your tote bag using rust and onion skins to create striking and delicate patterns, which emerge in unpredictable ways.
Whilst the dyes are left to take hold, Natalie will take the learning outdoors, as you go for a foraging walk in the city to gather autumn leaves, plants and wildflowers.
Back in the gallery with your nature finds, you will experiment with Hapa Zome – a Japanese term meaning ‘leaf-dye’ – which, along with the thoughtful contemplation of natural shapes and the opportunity for creative expression, offers the highly therapeutic yet underrated benefit of bashing with a hammer!
Hapa Zome creates a semi-permanent result, so once you’ve learnt the technique, you can update your bag with every season. Your finished bag will be totally unique, not just to you as the maker but to the season and the place you created it in.
The workshop is perfect for beginners and all materials are provided (or found!) as part of the session.
Natalie Linney is a Manchester-based textile artist and creative facilitator. After studying Visual Arts she now focuses on traditional dyeing and print-making techniques to create textile pieces. Her studio is at Islington Mill, as part of the Salford Makers collective.
This event is part of Manchester Folk Festival – an urban folk festival. It takes place from 15-20 October 2019, in and around HOME and the city centre. Over the autumn weekend, they present an exhilarating range of events, with the spotlight on contemporary and traditional English folk music.
