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Wednesday 10 September, 10-4 p.m.: Workshop: Creating Vibrant Colour with Natural Dyes with Liz Baltesz
Liz Baltesz
Regular price
£150.00 GBP
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£150.00 GBP
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The Pavilion, Museum of the Home, 136 Kingsland Rd, London E2 8EA
Get ready to unlock the rainbow hidden in your hedgerow. Join expert natural dyer, knitter and joyful colour enthusiast Liz Baltesz for a vibrant, hands-on introduction to the magical world of plant-based dyeing. This six-hour workshop is perfect for beginners and curious crafters alike.
Designed as a practical, creative day, participants will work in pairs to extract colour from natural materials - including fresh and dried plants, as well as high-quality dye extracts - and use them to dye six mini skeins of soft, mordanted super-wash merino yarn (20g each), which you'll take home at the end of the day. The dye materials will include madder, weld, logwood, onion skins, Saxon Blue, tansy, walnut, dock leaves and other seasonal surprises.
Throughout the day, you’ll be guided through the complete process - from preparing yarn, understanding mordanting options, to safely handling dye materials and making colour from plants. You'll also explore extending your palette using modifiers, exhaust baths, and over-dyeing. You'll learn how to finish your dyed yarn properly, keep dye records, and get inspired to continue at home. Baltesz will also share valuable resources, recipes for the dyes used in the session, and the story of how her natural dyeing journey began - and evolved into a passionate practice of foraging, experimenting and teaching.
Baltesz's workshops are warm, welcoming and rooted in creative exploration. With over 40 years of knitting experience and a deep love for colour, Shetland traditions and bold experimentation, Baltesz has taught at Loop, Knit With Me, Wild & Woolly, and Unravel Festival. She now brings that playful spirit and thoughtful guidance to every workshop she leads.
Liz Baltesz has been experimenting with colourful stitches since the 1980s. Drawing inspiration from Shetland traditions and designers such as Kaffe Fassett, Stephen West, Kieran Foley and Kate Davies, she explores techniques from stranded and intarsia to brioche and mosaic. Her workshops at Loop, Wild & Woolly and Unravel Festival share this love of colour play, design, and experimentation.
A chance workshop at Renaissance Dyeing over 15 years ago sparked a lifelong passion for plant dyes. Since then, Baltesz has foraged and experimented widely with dye plants across the UK, leading natural dyeing classes and creating knitting kits for shops including Wild & Woolly and Loop.
With a background as a business psychologist, she now focuses on craft as a way of fostering creativity, confidence and joy—helping people explore the possibilities of colour and sustainable dyeing at home.
All materials provided, and all skill levels are welcome. You’ll leave with not only a bundle of beautifully hand-dyed skeins but also the knowledge, confidence, and inspiration to start your own natural dye adventures.
Please note: This workshop uses protein fibres.
Event Cancellation Policy
All bookings are non-refundable. However, if you let us know that you are unable to attend an event you have booked at least two weeks before the event, we will open up your place. If we find another participant, you will be offered a credit note.
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9 reviews
A
Anna Liz’s understanding of natural dyeing is based on years of practice and exploration with different fibers, plants and minerals. There is a sense of life-long learning that runs through all she does, which she also brings to the way she shares her knowledge as she teaches. She is as generous with ideas as she is infectious with enthusiasm, so that even if you attend a workshop with the aim of simply learning how to dye yarn with plants, you will almost certainly finish with a new-found interest in the history, chemistry and psychology of colour.
B
Bryna One of the things I miss the most about knit night (aside from the lovely, easy flowing conversation) is the ability to get such great guidance from you on my knitting, especially colour choices! Mulling over colour combinations with you taught me a lot about colour theory and made me brave enough to try combinations I might not have dared to try! I still absolutely love the border of my quill shawl that you helped me decide the colours on! Thanks for making me a more adventurous and confident knitter!
J
James Liz has an extraordinary eye for colour and a sixth sense for what will work. Her passion for creativity and her years of experience of hand dyeing using natural materials really shows in the results that she gets. Liz is a fantastic teacher and course leader. She is an accomplished maker and really understands garment construction both as a sewer and a knitter, using her skills as a pattern designer and her attention to detail, coupled with her unique creative flair, she is an incredible talent and everyone can learn from a workshop or lesson led by Liz, no matter what your level of experience may be. I can’t recommend working with Liz highly enough - she’s extraordinarily talented and you will leave feeling inspired and encouraged to be bolder and braver in your own work.
C
Carmela Thanks for a fascinating dyeing workshop. It was so interesting especially the hands on dyeing with wool. You are a great calm teacher who took us through the processes in an accessible way for beginners. And the lunch was great too! It gave me confidence to buy a couple of books and have a go myself.
A
Annie Liz is a knowledgeable and lively teacher. Her understanding of dye plants and natural dyeing techniques is wide ranging and her approach makes you want to jump in and try everything. Every dye bath leads to further investigation and colour combinations and she leaves you with the knowledge to carry on experimenting once the workshop is finished. Liz opens the students up to the endless possibilities of natural dyeing and will only make you want to do more.
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