Michel Garcia, France – Master dyer, phytochemist, botanist, and historian

Thursdays, 15 & 22, September 2022 | 9:00 – 12:00 PST / 18:00 – 21:00 France
ZOOM Webinar | Slow Fiber Studios ANNEX | 1825 8th St. Berkeley, CA 

2-Day Hybrid Workshop on Sustainable Natural Dye Methods:

OPEN to Alumni of All Michel’s Natural Dye Workshops.

This new indigo workshop is open to alumni of all Michel Garcia’s natural dye and indigo workshops held at various venues. In this workshop, Michel will explore alternative types of mordant and thickener, new methods developed from his lab experiments. They are different from the mordant printing taught in DVD1: Colors of Provence Using Sustainable Methods. The mordanting and dyeing sequences in this workshop are shorter, with a special fabric preparation process. After the fabric is dyed and printed with a specific preparation, it is dried and printed in indigo, rinsed, and overdyed in madder (red) or weld (yellow), or both. 

In 2022, Michel focuses his teachings on indigo dyers and natural dye enthusiasts who wish to continue honing their skills and exploring creative possibilities. Students will learn a unique artisan method that will heighten their ability to create their own hand-dyed textile masterpieces. 

Our international workshops are taught virtually and will be streamed through Zoom Webinar. A small group of fully vaccinated alumni will be welcomed to participate at the SFS Annex in Berkeley. Indigo vats will be available for use. The Annex will have a large monitor and a camera capturing participants’ work to show to the instructor.

Materials you will need

Indigo, Fructose, lime ( Ca(OH)2, lye ( NaOH), aluminum foil, aluminum sulfate, wheat flour, kaolin clay or bentonite, Epsom salt, gum arabic, some natural dyes such as cochineal or madder for red, weld or another yellow dyestuff. 

Some of these items are available at  the SFS online shop, use DISCOUNT CODES that you will receive in your Evenbrite REGISTRATION RECEIPT E-MAIL.  Indigo paste and kit coming soon!

 Workshop Registration Info

Alumni of all Michel Garcia’s Natural Dye & Indigo workshops held at various venues are welcome! 

This workshop takes place over two Thursdays, three hours each, 9:00 – 12:00 PST on 15 and 22 September 2022 with a week in between to explore and develop your own experiments. Students may share their results during the second session. 

Workshop fee: $375 General, $360 for WSN members 

(for both days)

Members, email staff[at]yoshikowada.com for the Discount Code

Recordings from both classes are viewable for one month with the CODE given on the Eventbrite ticket confirmation. The recording will be uploaded to SlowFiberTV, a subscription-based streaming platform featuring each week a talk from the Conversations with Cloth Series 2020-22. All hybrid workshops will be rentable by each session for you to review to refresh your practice.

Michel Garcia

In collaboration with Michel Garcia, our workshops on persicaria tinctoria and indigofera suffruticosa, we aim to demystify natural indigo by breaking down the colorant’s diverse extraction possibilities. Sourced from Michel’s life work, he delves into various indigo plant forms of: dried, fresh, compost, powder, paste and paint into our NEW five Hybrid Workshops. Our courses are inspired and modeled from over ten years of the Natural Dye Workshop film productions with emphasis on Michel’s sustainable methods, and extensive ongoing research by Michel Garcia. All Natural Indigo dye used in our workshops are grown and produced sustainably from Stoney Creek Colors, Tennessee, USA.

Michel Garcia is a botanist, chemist, dyer, and naturalist. He is the founder of Couleur Garance (1998) in Lauris, France, and established Le Jardin Conservatoire de Plantes Tinctoriales (Botanical Garden of Dye Plants) in 2000 as a horticultural resource for chemists, natural dye researchers, and botanists. He has been instrumental in revitalizing the natural dye practice in France and abroad.