Julie Beeler conceived of the Bloom & Dye workshop series to grow her work and passion to benefit what she values most: curiosity, education, creativity, collaboration, community, and the environment.
Often forgotten in the realm of textiles, mushrooms have long been used as natural dyes, yielding some of nature's most vibrant colors. Learn to use fungi to create beautiful, vibrant, and nontoxic dyes perfect for any natural fiber. We will spend Saturday in the forest, learning about and foraging for dye mushrooms. Myco-educator, Krista Cushman will walk students through the mushroom identification process and teach us how to locate dye mushrooms using environmental indicators. Artist, farmer, and mycophile Julie Beeler will guide students on Sunday through various dye techniques, as students explore the myriad of shades these forest friends offer us. Students will leave with an understanding of how to find, forage for and identify dye mushrooms, wool fiber samples for the rainbow of colors they create, a large hand-dyed kerchief, and an instructional craftbook including mushroom dye recipes. This 2-day workshop will be hosted in Trout Lake, WA, utilizing the nearby forests and Julie’s home studio as the workshop site. No previous experience necessary, though a fantastic workshop for practicing dyers. Open to students 16 yrs & up. Students must be comfortable and physically able to spend 5 hours hiking through the forest, off-trail. Hiking will be at a slow pace, with nominal elevation gain, however, terrain can be uneven and not safe for those who struggle with balance or for those who are accustomed to spending an entire day outdoors. Saturday’s session will be held rain or shine.
