Natural Dyes: Creating a Plant-Based Palette With Aaron Sanders Head
In this three-part workshop, learn from textile artist Aaron Sanders Head how to turn kitchen scraps and foraged plants into natural dyes.
Course Description
Onion skins have a secret. They, like many kinds of plant matter, can be transformed into a palette of brilliant colors—dyes ranging from copper to deep mustard. In this three-part online course, we’ll learn how to create natural dyes using everything from kitchen scraps to foraged plants. We’ll begin with the basics, learning the tools and terms needed to get started before setting up a dye bath and diving into the process. Not only will we use food scraps, plant dye powders, and extracts to color textiles, but we’ll also learn how to forage for regional dyestuff, depending on your local ecology. By the end of this workshop, you’ll walk away with a palette of fabrics dyed using local plants or extracts and powders, as well as a repeatable method for creating color from the contents of your compost bin.
Syllabus at a Glance
This course includes three total sessions, each lasting for 1.5 hours on three consecutive Wednesdays beginning April 6.
Session 1 (Wednesday, 4/6, 7:30-9 PM ET) | Materials, Setting Up Your Dye Studio, and Mordanting
Session 2 (Wednesday, 4/13, 7:30-9 PM ET) | Kitchen Waste Dyes, Bundle Dyeing, and Resist Methods
Session 3 (Wednesday, 4/20, 7:30-9 PM ET) | Immersion Dyeing with Flowers, Nuts, and Foraged Items & Understanding pH Shifts
Materials
Session one will include a deep dive into dyeing materials. Students who wish to dye along with the course in real time will need to gather the materials listed below. Please reach out to experiences@atlasobscura.com if you have any questions about course materials.
- fiber (any natural materials like silk, wool, or plant materials are a good candidate)
- mordants (potassium aluminum sulfate for animal fibers and/or aluminum acetate for plant fibers)
- wheat bran or calcium carbonate for plant fibers
- a notebook
- stainless steel or nonreactive metal pot with lid dedicated to dyeing and not used for cooking or food preparation
- a heat source (kitchen, portable burner, outdoor fire pit, etc.)
- kitchen scale
- tongs
- rubber gloves
- various spoons or small whisks for stirring and dissolving
- sieve, strainer, or cheese cloth
- assortment of buckets, bowls, or vessels for mixing and gather water and making smaller dye baths
Pricing Options
In addition to full-price tickets, a limited number of no-pay spots are available for this course. Please note that these tickets are reserved for those who would not otherwise be able to take this course and who expect to attend all sessions. No-pay spots are distributed via a randomized drawing two weeks before each course begins. For more information and to apply for a no-pay spot, please click here. To learn more about our pricing model and randomized selection process for no-pay spots, please visit our FAQ page.
Community Guidelines for Students
Please take a moment to review our community guidelines for students, which aim to share our classroom ethos and help set the stage for the best possible learning experience.
Atlas Obscura Online Courses
Atlas Obscura Courses offer opportunities for participants to emerge with new skills, knowledge, connections, and perspectives through multi-session classes designed and taught by expert instructors. To learn more about our current course offerings, please visit www.atlasobscura.com/online-courses. For answers to commonly asked questions, check out our FAQ page here.
Founded in 2009, Atlas Obscura created the definitive community-driven guide to incredible places across the planet and is now an award-winning company that shares the world’s hidden wonders in person and online.
Once registered, you’ll receive a confirmation email from Eventbrite that will provide access to each class meeting. Please save the confirmation email as you’ll use it to access all sessions of your course via Zoom.
Aaron Sanders Head is a Southern textile artist focused on natural dyes and hand-stitching. Aaron explores the intersections of practices of the past with contemporary craft, and the ways that sewing and textile arts can aid in increasing diversity and representation in the creative class. He is based in Greensboro, Alabama where he lives in an 1830s home with his partner, musician Tim Higgins, and two cats, Splenda and Turnip. He maintains an active studio practice and extensive dye garden used in his work.
This is an interactive, small-group seminar that meets over Zoom. Students may be encouraged to participate in discussions, work on assignments outside of class, and workshop projects with their instructor or classmates. Due to the interactive nature of this course, we strongly recommend students attend as many live sessions as possible. Within 72 hours after each session meets, students will receive access to a recording of the live session, which they can watch for up to two weeks after the course concludes.
Instructors may use Google Classroom to communicate with students outside of class. While students aren’t required to use Google Classroom, instructors may use this platform to post resources, discussion questions, or assignments. This platform also offers a space for students to connect with one another about course material between sessions.
We provide closed captioning for all of our courses and can share transcripts upon request. Please reach out to us at experiences@atlasobscura.com if you have any questions, requests, or accessibility needs.
There are 25 spots available on this experience.
