Natural Dye & Ink Workshop

Date: 1st-2nd November 2024

Time: 10AM-3.30pm
Location: The Corridor Project

Natural Dye & Ink Workshop

Join us for an immersive, hands-on workshop where art and science meet in the landscape. Over two days you’ll explore the chemistry of colour, extracting pigments from endemic and invasive plants, local barks, and soils. Discover ethical harvesting methods, ecological impacts, and how natural colour can reveal stories of place, conservation, and sustainability.

Guided by artists Emily Ebbs and Clementine Belle McIntosh, participants will experiment with natural fibre fabrics using handmade dyes and inks, while learning about mordants, oxidation, and soil chemistry.

This workshop is open to artists, designers, scientists, and curious minds. No prior experience required (18+ recommended).

What to Expect

Participants will experiment with dyeing, staining, and marking natural fibre fabrics using handmade dyes and inks. The workshop will also cover ethical harvesting techniques, sustainable dyeing practices, and the role of natural pigments in conservation efforts.

WORKSHOP SCHEDULE

Morning Session

Welcome and introductions
Overview of natural dye and ink-making processes
Discussion on incorporating natural pigments into creative practice
Outdoor in the field observations: identifying local plants that produce colour
Safe and mindful harvesting of plant materials
Preparing harvested materials for dyeing

Afternoon Session

Extracting dyes and inks from prepared plant materials
Dyeing and marking fabrics with handmade pigments
Introduction to mordants, including rust water iron mordant
Exploring surface marking techniques with natural inks and dyes

Additional Notes

Pre-selected plants known for their colour properties will be processed in advance to ensure efficient dye extraction.
If suitable plant materials are limited, food scraps with dyeing potential will be incorporated.
Some plant materials requiring overnight soaking (e.g., barks, seed pods) will be pre-prepared by facilitators Emily and Clementine.

Materials Provided

Rust water and copper ink
Two portable stoves (four burners total)
Large dyeing pots and small ink-making pots
Selection of natural fibre fabrics (wool, silk, linen, cotton)
Brushes, jars, plastic containers
Gloves for working with mordants and copper ink
(Optional) Small canvases for fabric stretching

This workshop is perfect for artists, designers, community and anyone interested in sustainable textile practices, and natural ecologies. No prior experience is necessary 18+ recommended.

ABOUT THE TUTORS

EMILY EBBS

Emily Ebbs’ process based practice evokes the emotional residue of trauma. She focuses on the idea of the stain. The stain shows signs of something marked or discoloured that is difficult to remove where she finds it is closely linked to the idea of trauma. It is in the staining of materials, the tearing up of unfinished or unwanted works and stitching them together with new fabric that make up her process. Her work is a way of reflecting on her past experiences where art making can aid in recovering from trauma.

Emily Ebbs is based and practising on Gadigal Land. Emily won the Tweed Regional Gallery and Margaret Olly Art Centre Nancy Fairfax (AIR) award, 2022. Ebbs also won the Prix Yves Hernot painting award, 2022. She has been a finalist in the Mosman Art prize 2023 and the Black Town City Art Prize 2025. Her most recent solo exhibition, ‘Thresholds’ at Hake House used natural dying processes learnt on her residency at The Corridor Project in 2024.

CLÉMENTINE BELLE McINTOSH

Clementine Belle McIntosh is an emerging rural artist based in Gilgandra NSW, the waterhole meeting place of the Wiradjuri, Wailwan and Kamilaroi peoples. In a collaborative and nonlinear art making methodology, McIntosh produces predominantly textile based and site-responsive installations. Her keen focus lies in the act of mark-making to superimpose local dialogues, exchanges and relationships; metaphorically deconstructing western dualistic ideologies creating the “other” (other as nonhuman and/or strangers). McIntosh graduated with a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Honours 1) from the ANU School of Art & Design in 2022 and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the National Art School in 2020.

Contact the host of Natural Dye, Ink Making Workshop