Week Twenty: Natural Dye Workshop at Bloom Sheffield

This week I've been at Bloom Sheffield to take part in a natural dye workshop led by artist Charlie Hill. The workshop began with a walk in Cat Lane Wood to forage for hawthorn berries and oak galls. It was here that I got the chance to see a cherry gall for the first time! We learnt about winter tree identification and found lots of jelly ear fungi. The woods sit next to the Heeley & Meersbrook allotment site, home to two of Bloom Sheffield's allotment plots.

Heeley & Meersbrook Allotments

We returned to Big Bloom to learn about natural dyes and modifiers. Charlie had a variety of natural dyes in jars for us to paint onto samples of calico fabric. This included beetroot, turmeric, red onion, hollyhock, goldenrod and madder. Charlie demonstrated how to steep, simmer and strain a natural dye and had a camping cooking set up at the allotment. We also experimented with the Hapa Zome technique of hammering leaves underneath fabric to leave a natural dye.

Natural Dye Sample

The workshop felt like a forest school for adults experience and was part of Bloom's Winter Wellbeing events. It was inspiring to be part of a group of creative women, mixing natural dye potions together in the outdoors. I started to wonder what it would feel like to be part of a regular group of natural dyers and it was recommended to me to join my local guild of weavers, spinners and dyers.

Natural Dye Sample

As the majority of my learning so far has taken place online, there was something really special about coming offline and being part of a group in real life in nature. I reflected on our connections to place and how it felt to be somewhere that I have no emotional connection, versus my experiences of foraging in my own neighbourhood. I started to think about how I might run natural dye workshops for children and adults in the future and how I would like them to look and feel.