Saturday 6 & 13 June 2026, 2 - 5pm BST: Floral Pigments & Botanical Fabric Painting with Natalie Stopka

Online Workshop with Natalie Stopka

Saturday 6 & 13 June 2026, 2 - 5pm BST (British Summer Time)

Natalie Stopka is a leading practitioner and artistic researcher of lake pigments who has been sharing her expertise and love of plant colorants with students for over a decade. She focuses on the material history of colour and sustainable studio practice, utilising a seasonally-changing palette that is ethically foraged or cultivated in her studio garden. These colours, generated from the soil underfoot and the water moving through it, root each artwork to place. Natalie is the author of From Plant to Pigment: How to make your own vibrant inks, pastels and paints, published by Skittledog in 2025. Raised on the south coast of Massachusetts, she holds a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and MFA from the University of New Mexico. Her studio and dye garden are in New York State, and she teaches at SUNY New Paltz, Plants & Colour UK, and regional craft programs.

Workshop Description
For those of us seeking sustainability and a deeper connection to nature in our creative work, today’s ultra-refined art-store colors can feel very far from nature. Join Natalie Stopka for a warm introduction to making botanical pigments from flowers. You’ll learn how delicate plant dyes can be transformed into durable lake pigments, bringing organic colour to paint and print. Natalie will share the process for using our freshly-made pigments in water-based soya paint. Participants will explore our botanical palette in washfast paintings on silk. Though unconventional today, these pigments and paints are rooted centuries-deep in the pre-industrial history of art and artisanry. They not only visually evoke the natural world, but they also materially connect our paintings to nature. Participants will have the option to create pigments from their own garden flowers, bringing homegrown hues into the studio.

What You'll Learn: 

• How to select dye sources and extract colour from them
• The process of transmuting fragile botanical dyes to insoluble lake pigments
• Chemistry for artists: mordants, pH, lightfastness, and washfastness
• Simple, thrifty, homemade paint binder from soya beans
• Washfast fabric painting with homemade botanical pigments
  

Included in Your Material Pack:

• Aluminum sulfate
• Sodium carbonate
• Calcium carbonate
• 4 Natural dye flowers
• 4 Storage jars
• Filters
• Soya beans
• 2 Paint brushes
• Palette paper
• Watercolour paper
• Silk fabric
• Stretcher bars
• Copper tacks
  

Additional Materials to Bring:

• Blender
• Stainless steel pot (1L/1 Qt minimum)
• Digital scale (metric)
• Two 1L/1Qt heat-safe jars
• Spoon
• Sieve or colander
• Small jar for paint water
• Hammer or staple gun
• Scissors
• Distilled or spring water, 1 Gallon 
  

Level
Beginner-intermediate experience in natural dyeing OR hand painting.

Please Note: Material packs are shipped on an insured, trackable delivery service. Any customs duties, delays, lost or undeliverable packages are the responsibility of the customer. Once a material pack leaves the workshop tutors' hands with a tracking number, the seller has no further obligation to the buyer.

If we reach capacity, we may close bookings. Be mindful that we must close bookings at least 3 weeks before the workshop, in order to ship material packs. Book now to avoid disappointment.

Location
This is an online event. A Zoom link will be sent to participants the week before the workshop.

Recording
This workshop will be recorded, and a link to the recording will be emailed to all participants. Please allow 7 working days for us to send you the recording.



Cancellation Policy

All places reserved for workshops are non-refundable. 

If you require additional information about this workshop please contact events@selvedge.org.

Visit Natalie Stopka
Follow Natalie Stopka