Spend a weekend dyeing table linens with edible plants, and also cook a meal with the same dye materials! 

Textiles and food are kin: both are crops that need sowing, harvesting, and processing; both are consumed and often wasted; both tend to basic human needs; both are ancient technologies & systems. Textiles intrinsically document the processes of food-making and consumption, carrying the stains, spatters, and spills that occur by way of tea towels, napkins, placemats, wash cloths, tablecloths, etc. This workshop will expand the ways that food resources can be used and experienced – softening the lines between permanence and ephemerality, and deepening our connection to the plants used to create our meals. These dyed linens will be records of the food we eat, and the plants that produce our nourishment. 

Workshop participants will learn how to scour, mordant, and dye fabrics with food waste & locally foraged, edible wild plants. Simultaneously, we will prepare a meal to eat together, using the same ingredients we are dyeing with. The brilliance of colour and nourishment will resonate as the meal is served upon a long table adorned with naturally dyed linens, dyed with the same ingredients that make up our meal.

Participants will take home a naturally dyed table setting – two napkins, two placemats, and a table square/runner.

DAY 1 – Saturday, 9am – 5pm

• The first day of our workshop will include demonstrations on scouring, mordanting, and preparing dyebaths. We will also prepare some elements of the following day’s meal. Some linens will be submerged in the dyebaths overnight to reveal in the morning.

DAY 2 – Sunday, 9am – 8pm

• More dyebaths will be prepared and fabrics submerged in the morning, followed by a bundle dyeing experiment with silk table squares and runners. As fabrics are drying, the group will dive into food preparation with the remaining ingredients. We will then celebrate all of our collaboration and experimentation with a vibrantly colourful shared meal.

Notes:
The dyeing process is lengthy, aromatic, and deeply pleasurable. Note that we will be on our feet for a lot of our time together, either tending to dye pots or preparing ingredients and dishes. All dietary restrictions will be accommodated – as a base, the meal we prepare will be vegetarian.

$325.00 + HST
$60.00 material fee for food/dye supplies and take-home linens. To be paid on the day to Anita.

CALL TO REGISTER – (613) 464-2105

EMAIL TO REGISTER  admin@thecordwoodstudio.com