Jessica Kauffman, Instructor
Sunday, February 16, 2025
9 AM – 3 PM
Break out of the indigo-only box and learn to clamp, bind, fold, or twist fabric to achieve dozens of variations on traditional Shibori patterns. Because we are using easy, effective, low-impact fiber reactive dyes, you can create any color you want! This will be an immersion-bath class, where we will submerge our projects in an activated dye bath and take them home in bags to wash out 24-48 hours later. Experiment with a traditional one-color effect or go crazy with multicolor projects. Class will give you time to make multiple smaller projects (napkins, fat quarters) or 1-2 larger projects (yardage, aprons, garments). These dyes work on plant fibers, so think cotton, linen, rayon, bamboo, hemp, etc. Everything is provided except whatever you want to dye. Dyeable t-shirts and assorted other garments will be available for purchase.
Jessica Kaufman
I first learned to teach batik, tie-dye, and shibori while working at Gwynn Valley Camp in the early 2000s, and I came back year after year to continue my studies in the crafts programs there. Eventually I was hired to head up the crafts program, and was so inspired by what I was doing that I decided to earn a Masters degree in Crafts Education at Prescott College in Arizona (2008). I learned so much about how we learn as makers, how crafting positively effects our brains and our self-esteem, and about the handmade movement specifically in Southern Appalachia in the last century. All of this, plus my undergraduate degree in teaching theatre arts, means that I can give you an entertaining, in-depth, and well-paced course full of insight and experience.