Natural Dyeing Course 2024 With Jacqui Symons and Jenny Dean At Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft Application forms are now available for the next Ditchling Museum Natural Dyeing Course, which runs from April to September 2024. For full details visit this page on the Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft website NB: The closing date for applications is 31st January  2024 Natural Dyeing Course with Jacqui Symons & Jenny Dean – 2024 12 sessions over six months from 13th April – 28th September 2024 with 6 in-person whole day sessions at the Museum on a Saturday and 6 online sessions, also on a ..read more

  I am delighted to announce that application forms are now available for the next Ditchling Museum natural dyeing course, which starts at the end of March. The closing date for applications is March 1st. For more details and to apply, go to the museum website and click on “Learning” www.ditchlingmuseumartcraft.org.uk Natural Dyeing Course with Jenny Dean and Jacqui Symons– 2023 12 sessions over six months from 26th March – 3rd September, with 6 in-person whole day sessions at the Museum on a Sunday and 6 online sessions via Zoom, also on a Sunday, of 2 to 3 hours each. The aim of this c ..read more

  I am delighted to announce that I will be starting a new natural dyeing course in April at Ditchling Museum in Sussex. The details of the course are below and applications are now open at the museum. For more details and to apply, go to the museum website and click on “Learning” www.ditchlingmuseumartcraft.org.uk Natural Dyeing Course with Jenny Dean – 2022  12 sessions over six months from April – September, with 6 in-person whole day sessions at the Museum on a Sunday and 6 sessions via Zoom (or similar), also on a Sunday, of 2 to 3 hours each. The aim of this comprehensive cour ..read more

After much thought, I have decided to reprint my book A Heritage of Colour, which was published by Search Press and has been out of print for a few years. As the copyright is mine, I am able to reprint it, but at my own expense, so I hope it will be well received. It has a new cover design and I have chosen to have it produced with a spiral binding, so the book will lie flat when in use. A Heritage of Colour is a book that I really enjoyed writing, as it contains so much that is close to my heart. It has all the basic natural dyeing information but it differs from my other books in several r ..read more

Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft is offering two online workshops and an online talk with creative artist and indigo expert Lucille Junkere. These are fantastic opportunities to learn from an experienced indigo dyer and workshop leader, with a wealth of knowledge about natural dyeing and indigo in particular. Below are details of the online events. Closing date for workshop bookings is two weeks before each event, to allow time for workshop materials to be posted to students. To avoid disappointment, book now. To book, go to the museum’s website and follow the links. Don’t miss this rare opport ..read more

During Covid19 the one-year course has been on hold but, with the help of Zoom and WhatsApp and by posting dyes and other materials to the students, we have been able to continue work our work and have managed to very nearly complete the programme. With luck we hope to be able to meet again for at least one more session at the museum before the course finally finishes for this year. As the summer turns to autumn, these photos are a reminder of how lovely the dye garden has been and how sad it is that my students and I haven’t been able to enjoy it. But Fiona Eastwood has been collecting seeds ..read more

Although the one-year natural dyeing course students are still not able to meet at the museum, the museum itself is now open again and the dye garden is flourishing, thanks to the hard work and vision of the head gardener, Liz Pope, and her assistants. The following photos, taken by Fiona Eastwood, one of the gardeners who is also on the natural dyeing course, show some of the beauties of the garden. Both of the above photos show dyer’s coreopsis (Coreopsis tinctoria) Tagetes tenuifolia Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius) Rudbeckia Dahlia The post Ditchli ..read more

As the Ditchling course is on hold at the moment and the students are working at home, I have been suggesting plants they might find locally for the dye pot. Fiona Eastwood, one of the students on the course, has been experimenting with gorse Ulex europaeus, which is currently in glorious bloom all around us here in Sussex. The bright yellow flowers produce a delicious coconut aroma when used in the dye pot and they give a beautiful bright yellow. The flowers are best used at about 200% for really strong yellows and I prefer to use them on their own without any stalks or leaves. The plant ..read more

Sadly, because of the Coronavirus the Ditchling Museum of Art and Craft is closed and the natural dyeing course is on hold until the situation improves. We had reached the halfway mark and we will continue the sessions as soon as we can. In the meantime I have suggested some “homework” projects and I and all the students will keep in touch via social media and online meetings. The samples from the last session are not yet available but below are some photos from an ongoing project, led by Fiona Eastwood, one of the course students who also volunteers in the museum dye garden. The photos show s ..read more

Recently I conducted some experiments with fresh, dried and frozen walnut hulls, to see if there was any difference in the colour achieved from each. Using fresh green walnuts kindly donated by Deborah Barker and all collected at the same time from the same tree, some were put in the freezer immediately, some left to dry out and some used fresh from the tree. I used whole walnuts as this was easier than trying to separate the outer shell from the nut. The frozen and dried walnuts became dark brown and the fresh walnuts also appeared dark brown when I put them in the dye bath. Fresh green waln ..read more