Natural Dyeing Course ~ what to expect

I have finally started to write the Natural Dyeing Course and am really excited! My husband and friend are a wonderful support, letting me go off for the weekend to write, write and write some more. A welcome break from my three lovely children, garden, hens and more. (I have to write lovely, just in case they read this one day :) ) In my friend's gorgeous home. Thank you both so much! 

My friend's gorgeous 10 year old meadow with some yellow Lady's bedstraw

I was blown away by the many responses I received from my questionnaire. Thank you so much, I think it was the best thing I could have done. And yes - I got you all covered! I posted 3 questions to help me understand what people and potential students would like to see and expect from a year long Natural Dyeing course. The most important question probably was:

Q: What are you struggling with in Natural Dyeing that you would like to learn?

Mordanting, colour fastness, country specific Plant ID, growing, foraging & dyeing, Colour outcomes, identify & understand plant compounds, eco-friendly studio set up, colour combinations, efficient printing, colour repeat, keeping a record book, historical dyeing and more

If you like to take the questionnaire please follow this link

If you like to be added to the course specific email list follow this link

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The other questions were based on what you wish you could be doing after completing the course, how valuable it is to you (not money, but personal/professional gain) and a space to write, if you like to add something. 

I have taken all on board and am building a course accordingly. I should mention, that the scope of Natural Dyeing is vast and 1 year suddenly becomes very short, when looking at all the possibilities natural dyeing offers. I have been studying it for 15 years now and there isn't a month where I come across something new, yet again.

Requests for ink making, dyeing of other materials like wood and feathers, woad processing and many more are stand alone courses. We will be touching onto them, but not in detail. If you imagine this course as a tree, the specialized areas are the branches that will grow from it. I will give you the seedling to grow your tree, because in the end, you need to know the rules in order to bend them. You will be able to go on to your niche by yourself or take a further course in your chosen field.

The platform I will be using will allow for that development to happen. Another wonderful aspect is, that my husband, Tristan Lienhard, an organic gardener of over 20 years, trained in biodynamic gardening, seed saving and landscaping; will be joining to teach the gardening aspect. He grows, I dye. We might as well get the teachers right! Again, gardening isn't for everyone and though it will be part of this course, a more detailed one will be added as a stand alone.    

                                       Tristan and myself 

I will be posting details about the different modules as individual blogs for you to get more of an idea what the course will bring. Talk soon! x Jennifer