Diary of a Textiles Teacher

Well I failed dismally in achieving my goal of getting my blog and up and running in 2024. Time seemed to run away from me with lots of new opportunities coming my way which I couldn’t say no to. So now I’m setting my intentions for the year ahead, one of them being to be more proactive with my blog.

As I’ve eluded to 2024 was a year full of new and exciting opportunities I went on my bucket list trip to Japan to research indigo and was also able to work with Farnham Crafts Quarter on a Heritage Lottery funded project which we based at Farnham Museum. The 11plus project was

fabulous to be involved with, I worked with three other creatives and between us we delivered a heritage crafts project that introduced 11 – 16 year olds to the crafts of natural dyeing, making your own loom, weaving and block printing. We engaged with twenty four learners from local schools and the home schooling community and it really was a joy to see them develop their creative work as well as learn all about sustainable approaches to being creative. The sessions have culminated in an end of course exhibition so if you’re in the Farnham, Surrey area please do go along and take a look at what we got up to. The exhibition runs until the end of February 2025 and is on at Farnham Museum which is open Wednesday to Saturday, 10am – 4pm. We’re hoping to work on similar projects in the future so if you’ve got a group who would like to learn some heritage textile crafts do get in touch.

One of the exciting things to tumble out of working with these other artists is that local natural dyer, Ginny Farquhar, and I subsequently set up a few teaching sessions around natural dyes. Ginny and I met when we were studying together on a natural dye course, run by Jenny Dean, at Ditchling Museum of Art and Craft and it’s been fabulous to work with her. She is exceptionally knowledgeable and a fabulous teacher and friend so keep your eyes posted as to what we get up to this year. 2024 saw us run an introduction to natural dyes workshop, an ink making and bundle dyeing day and a natural indigo and fresh leaf processing day using indigo from our dye garden at Farnham Museum.

We have already planned a couple of workshops for 2025 so take a look at my workshops page or follow the links below. On the 8th March we are running an Indigo Shibori session at Farnham Maltings. At the end of March we are also running a half day session where you can learn to Grow your Own Colour in order to set up your own dye gardens.

I guess the most memorable aspect of 2024 for me was that I got to travel to Japan and I spent three fabulous weeks researching indigo and traditional indigo shibori techniques. I did lots of research before going and had a whole itinerary planned out which I’m pleased to say fell into place. I saw so many fabulous things, met some wonderful indigo people and worked with two very knowledgable indigo artists. I’m planning a series of blog posts that will document my time in Japan in more detail and I do hope you’ll join me on my travels. Belated new year greetings I do hope it will be a happy and healthy one for you all.