If you are interested, please click on the purchase button to be added to the one year course specific mailing list.  

We are now sold out for 2024, if you like to join in 2025, please sign up to this email sign up or send me a message and I will let you know when the booking gates for 2025 will open. 

Good news! This course will have partial funding for 2025!

The course will be hosted at The Dyers Academy and you can join the free community space here: https://the-natural-dyers-academy.mn.co/

Please see course details below:

If you like to check out what to expect and what the course has to offer, click on the  Blog posts below ( I will add more as I am writing them): 

Natural Dyeing Course ~ What to expect

The Natural Dye Academy ~ Here we are!

Natural Dyeing Course ~ Module 1 Fibres & Textiles

Natural Dyeing course Module 2 Mordanting, Part 1 - Alum 

Natural Dyeing course Module 2 Mordanting Part 2 & 3 - Iron and other mordants

Natural Dyeing course Module 3 Tannin

Natural Dyeing course Module 4 Indigo

Natural Dyeing course Modul 5 Yellows

The Course

This course is fully online and therefore accessible worldwide. It consists of 12 modules; scheduled over 12 months, starting mid January of each year. Please keep in mind that spaces are limited to a maximum of 15 students per group, with a total of 30 spaces available.

Booking will open in September of each year for the following year. Each module will open on the first of the month, giving you access to written and illustrated material, to guide you through the particular topic of that module. Each module also contains a quiz and a project; which will result in recipes and samples for your portfolio on that topic. 

The Structure

With each module you will have approximately 1 week to read through and familiarize yourself with that topic, followed by an online live session to revise the material and help you prepare for that module's portfolio work. On the last week of each month, there will be a second live session to review your portfolio work, consolidate knowledge for that module and answer any questions remaining. All live sessions will be recorded and available for anyone unable to attend on the day. All live sessions will be for both groups on a Tuesday, one at 11am and the other at 4pm.

Each of the modules are supported by dedicated Collaborative Exchange Spaces on the platform where participants can post their creations, ask questions and connect on that topic. During the final project work, there will be a 20min 1:1 session for each participant.

The Content

The 12 modules will cover the following: 

1. Fibres and their differences (Jan)
2. All about Mordanting (Feb)
3. Using Tannins (March)
4. Creating Blues (April)
5. Creating Yellows (May)
6. Creating Reds (June)
7. Creating Secondary Colours (July)
8. Creating More Secondary Colours (Aug)
9. Lake making and other Processes (Sept)
10.  Printing and other Techniques (Oct)
11.  Industry standards/Personal project (Nov)
12. Personal Projects & presentations (Nov/Dec)

The Special addition

Throughout the course there will also be an option to take part in 5 online sessions, taught by organic gardener and seedsaver Tristan Lienhard; on growing Woad, Weld, Madder and other dye plants organically. This will include organic horticultural principles, sowing and specific requirements for each crop, harvesting and seed saving. 

The Celebration

All projects will be presented and celebrated during the final 2 weeks of the course. The course will conclude in the first week of December with a final live session, where each participant will receive their AppleOak FibreWorks Natural Dye Academy certificate. 

The Time Required

Depending on the module you will need roughly 12 -25 hours per month to read through the course work, attend the live sessions and complete the portfolio work.

Course outcome

After attending this course, you will be able to open up your own professional dye practice, incorporate natural dyeing in your art or crafting business successfully, teach others, take it further or simply become a really good home/hobby dyer. 

If you are interested, please click on the purchase button to be added to the one year course specific mailing list.

Recent questions:

Do I need a big space?  - No. everything can be done in your kitchen space, if you have a window available, as you might not like every smell that comes your way. However, you will need a dedicated cupboard for equipment and a place to make your Vats/dye liquor and leave overnight or longer. 

Poisonous ingredients? - No. I used to work with hydros Indigo Vats in the past, but have moved away from them and everything I handle is safe. Some tannins can cause some irritation if you are sensitive, so I would recommend a mask for powdered ingredients. 

Equipment? - Yes, you will need some dedicated dyeing equipment and some place to store it. 

How much will it be? - Please keep in mind that it is an online, in person,1 year long course and will cost 1,350 Euros. With an option of a monthly payment plan at 125Euros a month.

Will the course be mainly theoretical? Due to the very 'scientific look' of the modules I have written so far, I have been asked several times, if it is mainly 'brainy' theory instead of 'hands on' coursework. Please be assured, that every module comes with project work and the reading material is only providing a basis and overview. It is totally hands on, as you are building your own portfolio/reference/recipe book over the year, including a final project of your own making.

I live in the US does it make sense for me to take part? Absolutely! This course will cover worldwide sources of dye and mordants and I will tailor ingredients you need according to your country, especially if you prefer a local source. After all, the portfolio is suppose to work for you and not for me :)

How about ingredients? - We can supply you with an assorted box of all the ingredients and a second one with all the materials needed throughout the year, which will be purchasable in our online shop. However, seeing that it will be your own portfolio I would strongly recommend to use the fabrics/ fibres etc you are thinking of using in the future. Some ingredients, depending on country, might be better to source locally, but I will get in touch with you, after registration.

Please be aware, that we can't send any plant material to Australia, any students from there will need to source their own supply. 

Not included: A3 or A4 size Portfolio (this will be easier to organize locally) Here is what I use:

A3 Elements Wirebound Sketchbook - 50 sheets 180g - Art & Craft (artandcraft.ie)

Black Paper Cartridge 180g Portrait A3 40 Leaves - Daler Rowney - Cork Art Supplies Ltd

Material lists:

Here you can see what you will need for the year. Please be advised that these are estimates and the final amount depends on how big or small you like to dye your samples. Nonetheless, this should be enough for the year:

*Not included are: organic laundry liquid, organic washing up liquid, white vinegar

Mordants & Modifiers:

1kg Alum, 1kg Soda Ash, 300g Cream of  tartar, 500g Sodium Acetate, 1kg Chalk, 1kg Ferrous, 1kg Tara, 500g Lime, 1kg Wheat bran, 250g fruit sugar, 125g tartaric acid, 125g citric acid, 25g Fuller's earth, 25g guar gum

Dyes:

1kg Oak gall ground, 250g Pomegranate peel ground, 250g Catechu, 250g Rhubarb root ground, 250g natural Indigo, 100g cochineal, 1kg Madder ground, 1kg Weld, 1kg Dyers Broom, 1kg Sage leaves cut, 100g logwood ground

Fabric & Fibre:

Please be advised that these are estimates and the final amount depends on how big or small you like to dye your samples. I would always encourage you to use the cloth/fibre you are going to work with in the future. Nonetheless, this should be enough for the year:

2.5m of Liona Linen white 190g/msq or your preferred linen/hemp etc. choice

2.5m of Liolina Linen natural beige 280g/msq or your preferred linen/hemp etc. choice

5m of Pongee Silk 0.5 or your preferred silk choice 

5m of Organic Bubble cotton or your preferred cotton choice

1kg of Stockholm yarn or your preferred protein based yarn

 That's it :) If you have any more questions, feel free to drop me an email! Best wishes, Jennifer

Monthly payment plan ~ if you prefer to pay monthly, you can do so here! We will send you an invite via email for you to access the course. By the end of January, we will send you another invite setting you up for a monthly payment subscription until the end of the course in December. 

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2024 Student's testimonies

The Natural Dye Course offered by Apple Oak has been a wonderful experience. It's a well blended curriculum of the history and science of natural dyeing. Jennifer does an excellent job or leading and supporting her students through the course work. She provides support through problem solving, expanding on specific topics as needed and presenting clear and concise information. It is also a very accessible platform that has made it easy for myself who has a learning disorder (reading is hard) to navigate and use. Overall I would highly recommend the professional dye course to anyone seeking to further their knowledge of natural dyes and the fiber arts through dyeing. - Valeria Q. (Ireland)

« I have found this course really worthwhile, Jennifer is super knowledgeable, helpful and patient. At the beginning I was a little overwhelmed by the portfolio work involved but once I got stuck into it, I’m absolutely loving it! Seeing colour appear before my eyes from only tannin and iron has been so amazing and I can’t wait to move on to the other colors!!- Caroline B. (Switzerland)

I am a complete novice when it comes to natural dying. The course sounded very comprehensive and supportive so I decided to give it a whirl. I am now almost 5 months into it and am absolutely loving it so much. Although it took me a while to get my head into the space of measurements and science, Jennifer and Tristan were very supportive with questions asked and made sure everyone was on the page. It has opened up a whole new world to me and I would thoroughly recommend it. There has been a lot covered so far so my advice would be to tip away at the work so that it doesn't become overwhelming especially if your a beginner like myself. I'm looking forward to meeting the class in person and seeing the studio in the flesh. - Louise G. (Ireland)

Jennifer and Tristen have put together an amazing course!  I have been naturally dying for for a number of years and thought a knew a lot, until I began my journey with The Natural Dyers Academy.  Each module brings something new, and shifts my way of looking at a process.  Although the Academy is over zoom, it never feels impersonal.  The cohort of learners are so willing to help one another and to offer encouragement.  Jennifer has really created a nurturing learning environment. Jennifer and Tristin are always available if a question arises and you never have to wait until the next meeting to raise a question.  I am so excited about creating my own work portfolio and plan on filling in with more of my own recipes based upon what I am learning.  - Joanmarie S. (USA)

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The Course

This course is fully online, consists of 12 modules; scheduled over 12 months, starting mid January of each year. Each module will open on the first of the month giving you access to written and illustrated material, to guide you through the particular topic of that module. Each module also contains a quiz and a project; which will result in recipes and samples for your portfolio on that topic. 

The Structure

With each module you will have approximately 1 week to read through and familiarize yourself with that topic, followed by an online live session to revise the material and help you prepare for that module's portfolio work. On the last week of each month, there will be a second live session to review your portfolio work, consolidate knowledge for that module and answer any questions remaining. All live sessions will be recorded and available for anyone unable to attend on the day. 

Each of the modules are supported by dedicated Collaborative Exchange Spaces on the platform where participants can post their creations, ask questions and connect on that topic. During the final project work, there will be a 20min 1:1 session for each participant.

The Content

The 12 modules will cover the following: 

1. Fibres and their differences (Jan)
2. All about Mordanting (Feb)
3. Using Tannins (March)
4. Creating Blues (April)
5. Creating Yellows (May)
6. Creating Reds (June)
7. Creating Secondary Colours (July)
8. Creating More Secondary Colours (Aug)
9. Lake making and other Processes (Sept)
10.  Printing and other Techniques (Oct)
11.  Industry standards/Personal project (Nov)
12. Personal Projects & presentations (Nov/Dec)

The Special addition

Throughout the course there will also be an option to take part in 5 online sessions, taught by organic gardener and seed saver Tristan Lienhard; on growing Woad, Weld, Madder and other dye plants organically. This will include organic horticultural principles, sowing and specific requirements for each crop, harvesting and seed saving. 

The Celebration

All projects will be presented and celebrated during the final 2 weeks of the course. The course will conclude in the first week of December with a final live session, where each participant will receive their AppleOak FibreWorks Natural Dye Academy certificate. 

The Time Required

Depending on the module you will need roughly 12 -25 hours per month to read through the course work, attend the live sessions and complete the portfolio work.

Course outcome

After attending this course, you will be able to open up your own professional dye practice, incorporate natural dyeing in your art or crafting business successfully, teach others, take it further or simply become a really good home/hobby dyer. 

Woad 'Hands on' workshop - come and join us for a 2 day active learning experience! 

This is going to be a couple of fun days spending time in the field harvesting dye plants and moving onto processing them in the dye studio. We will be doing some woad plant trials as well as dye a small item for you to take home after. What you can expect:

• A talk by Tristan Lienhard
• Harvesting Woad in the field
• Making Woad balls for our fermentation Vats
• Setting a woad pigment extraction, which takes a number of days to extract
• Testing the blue content of over 20 different varieties of Woad, using the Japanese cold direct dyeing technique
• Tour of the dye house 
• A talk by Jennifer Lienhard on fermentation vats, their differences and historical backgrounds.

Basic Knowledge of Indigo or Plant dyeing of advantage, but not necessary.

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Dates to choose from:

Friday 12th & Saturday 13th of July 2024 

Monday 15th & Tuesday 16th of July 2024

Day 1:

Venue in the morning: Field near Killaloe, car pooling from Killaloe

Venue after harvest: AppleOak FibreWorks Dye house

Time: 10am - 3/4pm

We will meet in Killaloe and car pool to the field, due to limited parking space. Tristan will give a short talk about the growing of Woad plants, the plant & seed trials he is working on and the sustainable aspect of growing our own colour.

We will then proceed with the harvest of specific woad plant varieties for blue trials. Once harvested, we will drive to the dye house and proceed with dyeing and testing the blue content using the cold direct Japanese method. 

Lunch Break 1.30 - Please bring your own lunch cutlery and cup. Coffees, Tea, Milk and Oat milk are provided.

After Lunch we will continue finishing the textile trials and finish with a tour of the dye house.

_______________________

Day 2 

Venue in the morning: Field near Killaloe, car pooling from Killaloe

Venue after harvest: AppleOak FibreWorks Dye house

Time: 10am - 3pm

We will meet in Killaloe and car pool to the field, due to limited parking space. Here we will harvest the remaining half of the Woad crop and bring it to the Dye house.

We will process the remaining Woad leaves into woad balls and create a woad leaf fermentation extraction for pigment.

Lunch Break - Please bring your own lunch cutlery and cup. Coffees, Tea, Milk and Oat milk are provided.

After lunch, we will break open a few woad balls from previous years and feed the active vat accompanied by a short talk on fermentation vats, their differences and historical backgrounds.

All materials are provided on both days. You will take home a small woad dyed silk scarf and a woad ball if you like :)

 ________________________

Join our growing community of natural Dyers, Artists & teachers on THE NATURAL DYERS ACADEMY. 

Here you can see what you will need for the year. Please be advised that these are estimates and the final amount depends on how big or small you like to dye your samples. Nonetheless, this should be enough for the year:

*Not included are: organic laundry liquid, organic washing up liquid, white vinegar

Mordants & Modifiers:

1kg Alum, 1kg Soda Ash, 300g Cream of  tartar, 500g Sodium Acetate, 1kg Chalk, 1kg Ferrous, 1kg Tara, 500g Lime, 1kg Wheat bran, 250g fruit sugar, 125g tartaric acid, 125g citric acid, 25g Fuller's earth, 25g guar gum

Dyes:

1kg Oak gall ground, 250g Pomegranate peel ground, 250g Catechu, 250g Rhubarb root ground, 250g natural Indigo, 100g cochineal, 500g Madder ground, 500g Madder cut, 1kg Weld, 1kg Dyers Broom, 1kg Sage leaves cut, 100g logwood ground

Here you can see what you will need for the year. Please be advised that these are estimates and the final amount depends on how big or small you like to dye your samples. I would always encourage you to use the cloth/fibre you are going to work with in the future. Nonetheless, this should be enough for the year:

2.5m of Liona Linen white 190g/msq or your preferred linen/hemp etc. choice

2.5m of Liolina Linen natural beige 280g/msq or your preferred linen/hemp etc. choice

5m of Pongee Silk 0.5 or your preferred silk choice 

5m of Organic Bubble cotton or your preferred cotton choice

1kg of Stockholm yarn or your preferred protein based yarn

All you need for January & February is in this bundle!

• Linen white (Liona) x 0.5m
• Linen grey ( Liolina) x 0.5m
• Cotton (Bubble organic 2 layered) x 0.5m
• Silk (Habotai) x 0.5m
• Wool Yarn 200g (Stockholm)
• Soda Ash 100g