Course curriculum

  • 1

    Welcome to the course!

    • Welcome !

    • About me

    • Please read all the lessons in this chapter carefully

    • How the course works

    • important dates

    • don't forget to join the facebook group!

    • How to use the facebook group
  • 2

    Materials

    • What you will need

    • What you will need in more detail

    • Fabric

    • testing an unknown fabric to see what it is

    • barrier

    • The dyes we will use in this workshop

    • Dyes, mordants and other chemicals - materials list

    • learning resources

    • Using the facebook group to ask questions
  • 3

    Preserving leaves by freezing or drying

    • Making sure you have enough leaves for this course
  • 4

    Some essential knowledge before you start

    • What is it in the leaves, that makes them print - or not ?

    • Leaves have two sides!

    • Carrier cloths or blankets

    • Working clean

    • Using the facebook group to ask questions

    • For paper printers
  • 5

    Mordants and assists

    • Mordants

    • Other chemicals, or 'assists'

    • Tannins as part of the mordanting process

    • Mordanting method and recipes

    • mordanting and sampling instructions pdf
  • 6

    dyes

    • When to dye

    • Dyeing for ecoprinters is different than pure natural dyeing

    • Making your dyebaths

    • What colour should your pieces be when you take them out of the dyebath?

    • Powders and extracts- what's the difference?

    • dyebaths for paper printers
  • 7

    Steaming cooling and washing

    • steaming your bundle

    • steaming your bundle

    • washing
  • 8

    Our first colour adventures- sampling

    • Sampling- why and how

    • Bundling more than one sample at a time

    • Documenting your process

    • A previous participant Hilary kindly amalgamated all the instructions into one printable document. You need to open the lesson to print it off
  • 9

    Understanding your results

    • what can we learn from bundle1?

    • what we can learn from bundle 2 ?

    • Some more learning from bundle 2

    • more learning from bundle 2

    • learning from bundle 3

    • learning from bundle 3

    • more about the interaction between target and blankets

    • But my blankets are more beautiful than my samples !

    • Relax! Every bundle you make is a learning opportunity

    • Incredibly potent dischargers

    • paper printers?
  • 10

    Discharging leaves

    • Discharging leaves

    • Some examples of results of using discharging leaves

    • See if you can work out what's going on here

    • Making a leaf chart

    • See if you can work out what's going on here - the answers
  • 11

    More analysis of how leaves and dyes interact

    • An example of a silk scarf - what are the leaves doing?

    • a puzzle for you
  • 12

    Printing a scarf

    • printing a scarf - without wrinkles

    • getting your fabric smooth

    • bundling a scarf with a blanket (If you did my foundation course you have seen this before)
  • 13

    More techniques - Optional!

    • Further explorations

    • Other methods of dyeing

    • making a dyebath from home grown or foraged materials

    • post mordanting

    • For those of you addicted to sampling...

    • Discussion of influence of cooking time on discharge

    • Iron rescue dip
  • 14

    Next steps

    • what now?

    • Come for a walk round my garden with me

    • your workbook/manual as a pdf

    • CONGRATULATIONS ! - and what happens next

Instructor(s)

instructor

Caroline Nixon

Caroline has been ecoprinting for seven years, and teaching ecoprint for five. As a printer she is known for her clear crisp prints and vivid colours. As a teacher she is known for her well planned courses, detailed clear explanations, and learner centred style. She is focussed on giving each learner the skills and techniques they need to proceed on their ecoprinting journey with confidence. On Caroline's courses you will learn. A lot. But you will also have fun.

Social proof: testimonials

Debbie

You are a super teacher, a lovely balance of kindness, compassion, knowledge and assertiveness when needed. I appreciated how organised and thoughtful you were and flexible and sensitive to our needs.You gave me so much help and confidence and I delighted with the things I made.

maggie

Caroline's workshop was very well organised and well structured for a range of ecoprinting experience levels. she is a very clear, but patient, tutor, always mindful of where a student is on their specific learning journey. she builds up the knowledge to be learnt in a straightforward and sequential way and is always positively responsive to questions. Best of all, she is great fun! I would (and do) thoroughly recommend her to new and experienced eco printers alike.

I loved your approach to printing, it made me feel that I was experimenting ,not just copying, from the beginning, even when I was following the steps for the samples. You squeezed in so much information and delivered it in a way that made good sense. I really feel that I have a much better understanding of the processes and look forward to experimenting more! Nicola

Claydon summer 2018, anonymous

Delivery of the course content was of a very high standard. Content knowledge was clearly delivered. Imparting knowledge effectively is not a given. Caroline succeeded immeasurably. Bravo! Claydon summer 2018

Claydon summer 2018, anonymous

Excellent quality teaching. The tutor was immersed in her craft and that rubbed off on me...I loved it!! Claydon summer 2018

thanks for a splendid day!

jane

excellent!

SianK

I have just completed the On Line Eco-printing Course which I found excellent. There were two aspects of the course which has given a much greater understanding of the process. The 'drip feed' of knowledge once a month ensured that concepts are properly understood and there is time to experiment further.