We’re so excited to have fibre artist Mel Sweetnam joining us for Eco Prints and Hand-Stitched Books, an incredible all-day workshop on October 1st. In this workshop Mel will teach students how to extract natural dyes from plant materials and transfer them in decorative designs onto paper. Students will then use these beautiful pages in creating their own one-of-a-kind, artisanal hand-stitched book.
More about the workshop:
This is one of the more contemplative workshops offered by Mamie’s Schoolhouse, requiring the student to slow down at every step, while learning both modern techniques for surface design with plants, and an ancient method for securely hand-stitching books. Some of the oldest surviving books in the world (some almost 2,000 years old) were bound with the Coptic stitch method taught in this workshop.
There is something magical about starting with blank sheets of paper and a pile of plant material, and ending the workshop with a beautiful, hand-stitched book printed with the essence of Cape Breton’s glorious landscapes, and securely bound with your own hands.
Students Will Learn:
• dye studio safety practices
• how to properly choose and prepare paper for maximum dye uptake
• about growing and/or ethically/sustainably foraging plants with natural dye properties
• how to select, store and prepare plants for different results on paper
• how to use over-dyeing and/or other natural substances (mordants, assists and modifiers) to shift the colour spectrum available from plants
• how to finish your one-of-a-kind printed paper
• how to make beautiful book covers using paper you have printed
• how to prepare signatures (the groups of papers inside the book)
• how to wax your own thread for stitching, using local organic beeswax
• how to do Coptic hand-stiching to securely and beautifully bind your creation
Students Will Take Home:
• a completed hand-bound book
• a range of paper samples printed with plants in class for use in other projects and/or as a reference library of techniques
• the skills to further explore the magic of local plant colour and book-binding
other & her first fibre arts and conservation teacher.
Time: 10am-4Pm with a 45 minute break for lunch
Cost: $65 + hst plus a $25 (tax inclusive) materials fee payable directly to the instructor for yarn, fabric, dyes etc.
Age: 19+ due to the use of hot dye vats
Experience: Beginner-Intermediate
To sign up for this workshop please email [email protected] or phone the arts centre at 902-258-2533
More about the artist:
Mamie’s Schoolhouse was founded by ecological fibre artist Mel Sweetnam, a juried member of the Cape Breton Centre for Craft & Design, the South Haven Guild of Weavers, Spinners & Dyers, and the Canadian Bookbinders & Book Artists Guild.
Mamie was Mel’s Mother & her first fibre arts and conservation teacher.
Mel combines her life-long fibre arts studies & academic studies in biology to explore & teach a vast array of plant-based mordants & dyes, & an ecological stewardship approach to all fibre arts.
https://www.mamiesschoolhouse.com/
