June 2021
Natural Indigo Vat in Your Home – the same workshop is offered in April, May, and June.
Michel Garcia, France – June Workshop
Saturdays, 05 & 12, June, 2021 | 9:00 – 12:00 PST / 18:00 – 21:00 France – FULL
ZOOM Webinar | Slow Fiber Studios ANNEX | 1825 8th St. Berkeley, CA
Michel will provide a complete manual on what INDIGO is botanically, chemically with historical background. He will explain how an organic INDIGO vat works and to make it, use it safely, and maintain it at home. You will have step-by-step instruction as well as recordings from the class to guide your practice at home. Please know that the bigger (more dyestuff) your vat is, the easier it is to maintain. In the next series of indigo workshops, Michel will teach how to extract your own indigo dye from dried indigo leaves.
The indigo workshop structure is to include two Saturdays (3 hours each) and a week in between to carry on your experiment and observation of your own indigo vat. In the first class, Michel will cover basics and you will make your indigo vat and learn how to dye various fibers, in the second class, Michel will show how to enrich/spike your depleted vat by adding a stock solution and learn to continue using the vat for your ongoing small scale home project. He will demonstrate alternatives for antioxidants besides fructose.
Enjoy your own dye vat to color your home projects with a dip in an organic indigo dye. It would be handy to dye your samples if you are taking the upcoming shibori workshops. Students will receive Michel’s Indigo Manual #1, Students Prep & Info sheet, List of Q&A, and lifetime access to recording for the classes.
Registration & Cancellation Policy
Garden Sale & Celebration
Slow Fiber Studios Annex
1825 8th St, Berkeley, CA
SATURDAY • JUNE 05 • 1 pm to 5 pm PST
Masks and social distancing observed
On June 5, right after Michel Garcia’s “Indigo Vat in Your Home” Workshop, Slow Fiber Studios will be hosting an Open House and Garden Sale. Exchange, sell, give away artworks, textiles, books, yarns, fabric, art supplies, baked goods, and more. This is an opportunity for the textile community to reconnect. Drop-in and support networking and local makers and farmers! No registration required to attend, but please wear your mask.
We are offering limited table space to display artworks, collectibles, and more. Table participants must be fully vaccinated. Confirmed artists are Dianne Ayres, Chris Buckley and Sandra Sardjono, Jaret Elbert, Ellen Hauptli, Ana Lisa Hedstrom, Elisa Ligon, Liz Fitzgerald, Mayumi Fujio, Elizabeth Jerde, Parul Naresh, Peggy Osterkamp, Tricia Robinson, Masako Takahashi, Priscilla Troy, Arlene Wohl, Slow Fiber Studios Shop, Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada, and Egg Tarts by Lukas.
CONTRIBUTIONS to the Slow Fiber Studios are appreciated, i.e. purchasing recording(s) for the Conversations with Cloth series ONE, and Series TWO.
PROGRAM UPDATES
1:30 pm to 2 pm: BREATHE WITH ME, worldwide projects presented by the artist, Svetlana Stanislavskaya GOUS, Q&A, and her installation in the garden to follow.
3 pm to 4 pm: TAC members watch the lecture RYUKYU BASHOFU,
Banana Fiber Textiles of Okinawa, by Kana TAIRA,
hosted by the Textile Arts Council of the M.H. de Young Museum
4 pm to 4:30 pm: BREATHE WITH ME, worldwide projects presented by the artist, Svetlana Stanislavskaya GOUS, Q&A, and her installation in the garden to follow.
Artist Profile and Projects
Svetlana Stanislavskaya Gous is a producer of global participatory art and site-specific performances, fiber and land artist of “Breathe with Me.”
Breathe with Me, a global participatory art/ action in the times of the pandemic, is safe and sustainable. This ongoing global art project by Jeppe Hein and ART 2030 has a mission to bring the world together with one simple, universal action: breathing.
It was launched in 2019 at the UN Climate Summit in NYC. In the midst of the pandemic, two adaptations of these projects were carried out successfully and safely, bringing communities together to “paint their breath” – in Tukums, Latvia, and in Palo Alto, USA.
The 350-foot-long canvas filled with linked breaths became a meeting place and a stage to many local creatives and site-specific events and performances. Many new friendships and relationships were forged during the five weeks of its existence, helping us “become a community again.” The painted canvas will be repurposed for other artworks which will be discussed in my talk. The sustainability of both art/action events was very important and took a lot of creative thinking!
April – August 2021
Natural Indigo Vat in Your Home – the same workshop is offered in April, May, and June.
Michel Garcia, France – June Workshop
Saturdays, 05 & 12, June, 2021 | 9:00 – 12:00 PST / 18:00 – 21:00 France – FULL
ZOOM Webinar | Slow Fiber Studios ANNEX | 1825 8th St. Berkeley, CA
Michel will provide a complete manual on what INDIGO is botanically, chemically with historical background. He will explain how an organic INDIGO vat works and to make it, use it safely, and maintain it at home. You will have step-by-step instruction as well as recordings from the class to guide your practice at home. Please know that the bigger (more dyestuff) your vat is, the easier it is to maintain. In the next series of indigo workshops, Michel will teach how to extract your own indigo dye from dried indigo leaves.
The indigo workshop structure is to include two Saturdays (3 hours each) and a week in between to carry on your experiment and observation of your own indigo vat. In the first class, Michel will cover basics and you will make your indigo vat and learn how to dye various fibers, in the second class, Michel will show how to enrich/spike your depleted vat by adding a stock solution and learn to continue using the vat for your ongoing small scale home project. He will demonstrate alternatives for antioxidants besides fructose.
Enjoy your own dye vat to color your home projects with a dip in an organic indigo dye. It would be handy to dye your samples if you are taking the upcoming shibori workshops. Students will receive Michel’s Indigo Manual #1, Students Prep & Info sheet, List of Q&A, and lifetime access to recording for the classes.
May 2021
Kumo Shibori: Foundation and Adaptations
Hiroshi Murase, master Arimatsu Shibori Artisan.
Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada will moderate and translate the workshop.
Saturdays, 22 & 29, May, 2021 | 15:00 – 18:00 PST / 7:00 – 10:00 Japan (next day)
ZOOM Webinar | Slow Fiber Studios ANNEX | 1825 8th St. Berkeley, CA
The workshop will cover the technical foundation for bound-resist and its variations in the first session and adaptation and exploration of techniques in the second session. Murase-san will demonstrate artisan methods of handling traditional tools and help you heighten your ability to create your own hand-dyed textile masterpieces. Yoshiko will moderate, bridging the gap between East and West and traditional and contemporary use of techniques, materials, and processes. Recordings from both sessions and all documents and powerpoint presentations will be shared with the class and the students who are in different timezones. During the week between two sessions, you will be given assignments and may ask questions by email which will be answered and added in the Q&A document which will be shared with the students.
Workshop materials and tools: The class requires a kumo shibori hook, shibori stand, binding thread, and a table clamp. You may order the tools you need from the Slow Fiber Studios Shop at a 15% discount. The discount code for the tools will be on your registration receipt.
Dyeing shibori in your indigo vat: It is beneficial to have your own dye vat to see your shibori result. We recommend natural-indigo vat, a sustainable method for cotton or silk; but a fiber-reactive dye is an alternative. Michel Garcia’s indigo class will teach you the right way to start your own vat at home.