The Seasonal Natural Dyer

2024 Registration now open.

your Instructor…

Taught by Mel Sweetnam, a professional fibre artist and natural dye educator with over thirty years of natural dye experience. In addition to her life-long passion for natural dyes, and fibre arts in general, Mel spent over twenty years managing public science policy for a range of governments and non-governmental organizations in Canada and overseas. Drawing on her post-secondary science education, and her previous career supporting evidence-based research, these courses are grounded in facts - not myths - about what works, and why. Mel is adept at making the basic natural chemistry of dye materials and processes accessible and fun, and teaches you how to discern accurate information on natural dye methods from widespread online misinformation. Mel is the admin of the global Natural Dye Education Facebook Group.

wildcrafting colour…

• Join me for fun and educational monthly wildcrafting expeditions and demonstrations, that profile the seasonal natural dye materials of the Earth’s temperate regions.

• Each month, I’ll take you with me as I explore meadows and forests, shorelines and country lanes on beautiful Cape Breton Island, to source seasonal treasures for the natural dye enthusiast.

• I’ll teach you how to properly identify species in the wild, by learning which physical features to look for to confirm identification. I’ll also cover any safety or ecological considerations.

• I’ll demonstrate how to responsibly harvest and use that month’s foraged materials to create beautiful natural dye results on various fibres. Several different methods are covered, including regular dye baths, fermentation, modifiers, thickeners, and others.

• Along the way, I’ll chat about the cultural history, art and science of the wildcrafted materials.

course structure…

• There are no written materials or assignments for this course.

• It is intended as a less academic learning format than the in-depth Modules in Guilded and, therefore, is offered at a much lower price.

• So, while there will be some discussion of subjects such as proper fibre preparation, this is not a how-to course on that topic, other than where materials are wildcrafted that will be used in preparing fibres for subsequent natural dyeing.

• If you don’t already have some familiarity with proper fibre preparation, the simple, effective methods described here will help you build a solid foundation of understanding the important role of scouring and mordanting for getting the best out of your actual dye results.

• This course is intended primarily to help you learn your land - to build confidence in learning to identify natural dye materials where they grow in the wild or in your garden - and to help you become a champion and knowledge keeper of your regional natural dye treasures.

course videos…

• Each month includes three or more videos, with a total runtime in the 15-40 minute range, but actually represents two to five days’ worth of foraging, proper identification, harvesting, processing, and using the materials in various natural dye methods.

• I spend as much time editing video tutorials as I do filming them - this is so that students don’t have to sit through content that doesn’t add value - watching a pot being stirred a dozen times, watching me adjust and move the camera ten times, etc.

• Every video covers all of the essential information in-depth, and edits out non-essential ‘filler’ that adds nothing to your learning. This also makes it easier for you to find your way back to something you might want to watch again.

• All of the videos for April through November are available to you until the end of October of next year.

what wild dyes will be covered?

• A minimum of three different species is covered each month in depth., all the way through from proper identification in the wild, through to responsible harvesting, and then how to process and use them.

• Species include both those native to the temperate region, and introduced species that have become widely established. Species include perennials, shrubs, and trees.

• The predominant focus is on plant dyes (leaves, bark, wood, roots, cones/catkins, husks, flowers, etc.), but we also cover some lichen.

• You will learn correct, botanical names, along with information on global distribution.

• By the end of the course, students will have learned to thoroughly identify, harvest, process, and use approximately 30 species.

is this course relevant for where you live?

• While I am on Cape Breton Island, on Canada’s east coast, if you live in a temperate deciduous or mixed forest zone of the world, then this monthly course will include species found in your region. Note the northern and southern temperate zones shown on the map below.

• The flora of my region is classified as temperate broad-leaf and mixed forest, since it is comprised of a large range of deciduous species (that lose their leaves each year) and coniferous species. It is rich in trees, shrubs, ferns, mosses, lichens, and herbs. In addition, due to waves of colonization over the centuries, a large number of non-native species are now well established here, and are also widely distributed in the temperate regions of the northern and southern hemispheres.

• Spring comes later to my region than it does to some other temperate areas. So you may find that the species I forage in the early part of the course are available to you earlier in the year. However, most species covered are available across many months.

pricing & registration (links will work when registration opens January 1) …