November 11 2023
Program and Workshops
Eileen Hallman
The Artist:
As the proprietor of New World textiles, Eileen Hallman has been providing cotton fiber, yarn, and fabric to fiber people since 1995. In 2005, she took dye and shibori workshops with Catharine Ellis and a fresh indigo workshop with Rowland Ricketts. She has been growing and studying the properties of Japanese indigo ever since. Three years ago, she discovered through reading that there is a yellow dye in the leaf. With the primaries accounted for, the experimentation has moved on to the secondaries.
Guild Meeting/Program: The Colors of Indigo
This presentation will open our eyes to the magical properties of the Japanese indigo plant, which contains a yellow dye as well as the precursors for blue and pink. I will talk about how I got here from there, share some stories, and bring a range of colors I’ve obtained in the course of 17 years of research.
Date/Time: November 11, 2023 10:30 AM (following Guild meeting)
Location: St. James Episcopal Church, 11815 Seven Locks Rd, Potomac, MD 20854
Mini Workshop: Ice Water Indigo
In this workshop you will learn how to harvest Japanese indigo and how to prepare the ice water bath to dye silk blue. Working primarily with silk using dried indigo leaves in a non-vat technique. Demonstrating using just leaves and water to obtain the color blue.
Date/Time: November 11, 2023 1:00 to 4:00 PM
Location: St. James Episcopal Church, 11815 Seven Locks Rd, Potomac, MD 20854
Mini Workshop Fee: Members: $35.00 Non-Members: $50.00
Student Supply List: Apron and gloves. Optional: scoured silk scarf, yarn, fiber, or ribbon
Extended Workshop: Primary Palette from Fresh Leaf Indigo
We will work primarily with silk, using dried indigo leaves in a non-vat technique. The first morning session will use just leaves and water to obtain blue, yellow, and green. The first afternoon session will include several methods with chemical intervention to obtain pink and lavender. We will also make a lake with the spent baths. The second morning we will split the lake and dye yellow, then we will dye cotton blue. The second afternoon will be discussion and synthesis, exploring ways to combine what we know.
We will dye silk ribbon to be attached to a sample page. Each student will get 4 hankies for exploration.
Students who have grown their own indigo over the summer and dried it may bring some of it with them, a blender, and scoured silk to dye.
Date/Time: November 12, 2023 12:00 to 5:00PM
November 13, 2023 10:00AM to 5:00PM
November 14, 2023 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM
Location: The Woman’s Club of Chevy Chase MD
Workshop Fee: Members: $160.00 Non-Members: $220.00
Student Supply List:
Apron and gloves
Optional: scoured silk scarves, yarn, fiber, or ribbon
Optional for growers of indigo: dried leaves of any indigo bearing plant; blender