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Beautiful Silks Workshops presents: ''Nature's Colours in the City"
Presenting Trace Willans Workshop: Do it Naturally Yourself - A 2 Day All Natural Mixed Media Workshop Booking code NDSTW01 Explore the world of DIY paint, with ingredients mostly sourced from the kitchen.
Trace Willans uses only natural materials, she is working toward sustainability - she is someone we can learn a lot from, and she's willing to share her journey.....
Monday 2nd and Tuesday 3rd July, $275.00 - this includes tutor provided materials Workshop Description: On day 1 we will work with the under layers or substrates, Rabbit Skin Glue, Traditional Gesso, Starch pastes and Plaster, working on paper and fabric. On day 2 we will introduce colour using natural dye pigments with paint made from both soy and cow’s milk, a little bit of egg tempera and some ink. We will finish by exploring the world of cold wax both as a finish and as paint in its own right. If there is time there will be a demo of encaustic or hot wax. Bring: Paint Brushes Small containers for holding paint Water container Hair dryer for fast drying of work Small amounts of light open weave fabric, cotton or silk, tissue or light Japanese paper, Interesting text. Paper; water colour paper, or something heavy enough to take some abuse. Fabric; cottons not too light weight, calico is fine, coloured or patterned can be interesting. Scissors Camera, Notebook and pen Wear a protective work shirt or apron. Cotton cloth for covering table (expect to use this later as part of new artworks) Materials Fee: $10 This cover all paint supplies including pigment. 9.30 - 4pm; Maximum of 12 students Doors open at 9:00 for a 9.30am start. Tutors finish at 4pm. Doors close at 4.30pm. Artist's Statement: I am interested in the wholeness of living not in the individual parts, and as such I believe my arts practice should as much as possible reflect this belief. It was with this in mind that I began my search for media that would reflect my ideals, ones that would not compromise my personal sense of integrity. I continually search for more organic, sustainable media with a low environmental impact. So far the media I have found to use are soy (made myself from dried soya beans) & cow’s (casein) milk paint and earth pigments; a mixture of beeswax, pure gum turpentine and pigment; beeswax and dammar resin used hot as encaustic medium; xanthorrhea resin dissolved in methylated spirits; charcoal; starch resist; and natural dyes for which I collect the raw materials myself. I am looking at ways to use as little in the way of chemical mordants in my dye practice as advocated by artist India Flint who first alerted me to the adverse environmental effects of this area of natural dyeing. I will also eventually replace the earth pigments with reduced natural dyes. I am interested in exploring mixed media works utilizing a range of art materials with a view to their sustainability and low environmental impact, through a series of experiments with traditional mediums such as casein, egg, starch resists, natural dyes and earth pigments. I plan to break each area down so I can experiment with variations to see the differences that result. When I make a starch paste to use to create texture, what difference will the type of starch that I use make? So I will try as many the different types of starch as I can think of, from wheat flour, buckwheat flour, rice flour, potato starch, to bean flour such as chickpea flour. Looking also at traditional uses in different cultures, e.g. the Japanese use of rice flour and the Mali peoples use of cassava flour. What substrates can be used, how sustainable are they? Paper, handmade paper, papier mache, clay, canvas, board. While using earth pigments is a more environmentally friendly alternative to synthetic pigments it is ultimately unsustainable so I would like to explore making paint pigment from reduced natural dyes, starting with some of the advice provided by John Marshall. http://www.johnmarshall.to/ I would like to look at a range of traditional glue recipes looking for sustainable glues to see if I can find a way to live without PVA. I also hope to continue my exploration of working with beeswax, both in the traditional form of encaustic and also cold wax medium. Eventually I hope to produce a body of work that is entirely organic as well as ecologically sustainable, with a low environmental impact and be able to share that knowledge with others.
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Natural Dye Symposium Workshop 
