Mud and Mordants - Color Alchemy

Design with plant color alchemy! Natural dyes encompass the full spectrum of primary and neutral hues. Using a variety of mark making tools, simple screen-printing techniques, blocks and stencils, students will apply mordant pastes and mud resists to develop a series using their own motif. The resulting polychromatic designs are unveiled in the dye pots and Indigo vats and enliven the potential of different plants. We will discuss repeat patterning, dye chemistry, preparing cloth, mordant pastes, dyes, resist printing, finishing cloth and options for mounting work. Each student will complete several samples, as well as a small project.

Iris Sullivan Daire is an artist and naturalist dyer who uses site specific pigments and dyes to add new layers of meaning to the narrative of her work. She relishes using science, metaphor and story to bring the materials to life while teaching.

Iris lives with her family next to the Columbia River in Astoria, Oregon. She grows traditional dye plants and has been quietly mapping the hidden colors contained within the native and invasive plants of the North Oregon Coast. She holds a BFA in fiber arts from University of Oregon and has been teaching for over 20 years.

• Apron

• Gloves

• Dust mask

• Scissors

• Ruler

• Note taking supplies

• Exacto knife for cutting stencils

• Three small all-purpose paint brushes

• Towels

Optional: Small screen for screen printing, 110- 130 mesh size are good

• Comprehensive instructions handouts

• All dyes, mordants and indigo vat

• Materials for sample sets and final project

• All dye pots and hot plates etc.

• Assortment of textile blocks, stencils and supplies