Saturday, August 12 

EcoPrinted Paper 10 AM - 12:30 PM 

Natural Inks  1:30 PM - 4:30 PM

Come for one or stay for the whole day!

Gather on the land to experience the abundance in the Summer Dye Gardens. 

During our morning session, we'll meet the dye plants and get right into to playing with the color our local plants produce.  Using these plants, water, heat, and pressure, we will ecoprint directly only artist's watercolor paper creating unique and fascinating designs.  You can keep your paper as it is or learn different techniques for altering your pieces.

From 12:30 - 1:30, we will take a lunch break.  I will have herbal tea and light snacks (gluten and dairy free), but you are encouraged to bring a snack/lunch as well.  Everyone is welcome to join from 12:30 -1:30.  We will say good-bye to our friends who have joined us for the morning gathering and welcome in our afternoon group. 

After lunch, we will learn about the process of creating writing ink with plants (and cochineal, a bug!)  We will simmer up Cochineal to create pink and purple inks.  We'll mix yellow onion skins and fresh coreopsis flowers to produce a lovely orange ink.  If we have time, we'll look around the garden to see what other colors we can create.  Once cooled, we'll bottle up our inks to take home.  Friends who attend the ink making gathering will also go home with a glass blown dip pen to use with your new inks.

What should you bring? 

• Clothes that can get messy &/or an apron
  
• Closed-toe shoes if you want to walk in the woods
• Sun hat & sunscreen (though shade will be available)
• Lunch/Snacks

No experience necessary, just the desire to learn and have fun.

Cost - How do I choose?

Tier 1 is for members of the community who currently need more financial support as taking this class would be a hardship. 

Tier 2 is for those who have little expendable income but taking this class would not create hardship.

Tier 3 is the actual cost of the course.  

Tier 4 is the Pay-It-Forward tier.  It is the cost of the course plus a bit extra that goes to supporting the low cost classes of your fellow community members.

Our land is in Leicester, NC ~10 miles NW of downtown Asheville.

Cancellation Policy- We require 72 hours notice via email in order to issue any class fee refunds, transfers, or credits.