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New Course Work Open Now!
What will you learn
at Sanborn Mills Farm this Spring?
We love winter in New Hampshire, but we also love to dream of the possibilities that Spring can bring. This year, Spring at Sanborn Mills Farm is filled with even more excitement than usual for us—and you! Workshops in our new Fiber Arts curriculum begin in May and we’re returning with your favorite Blacksmithing and Draft Animal workshops.
We’re excited to tell you about our new Natural Dye Basics series. Are you curious about natural dyes? Do you want to know how to pull rich, bright, and lasting color from your garden? Maybe you want to dye your own yarn for all of those great winter knitting projects? Or perhaps you’re ready for something totally new and explore natural color extracted from around the world, from bugs to bogs! Learn about these possibilities and more in our Workshop Catalog.
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Featured Course:
Natural Dye Basics: Natural Indigo Vats with Extract,
with Sara Goodman
This workshop will cover the basics of working with powdered natural indigo extract to make and maintain a vat for long term use using ferrous sulfate as the reduction agent. Other natural vats, using organic materials such as henna or fruit sugar will be discussed and demonstrated if there is interest. The essentials of fiber preparation, scouring for different kinds of fibers, and finishing will be covered for best results. Basic shibori techniques using stitching (mokume), pole wrapping (arashi), and clamping (itajime) will be taught. We will also explore ways to use clay paste resist (for painting and printing) and Japanese rice paste resist technique (katazome) with stencils. We will be working primarily with cellulose fiber (cotton, linen etc.). Protein (silk, wool, etc.) will be discussed and samples shown. Cotton cloth will be used for samples in class.
For more information and to register, click here.
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Book of the Month
What We’re Reading This February
To celebrate the launch of our Natural Dye Basics Series, we’ll be sharing with you one book per month that teaches, inspires, and excites us about Natural Dyes. Read along with us! Follow Sanborn Mills Farm on Instagram to share your comments on this month’s read.
This month’s choice is A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desireby Amy Butler Greenfield.
“In the sixteenth century, one of the world’s most precious commodities was cochineal, a legendary red dye treasured by the ancient Mexicans and sold in the great Aztec marketplaces, where it attracted the attention of the Spanish conquistadors. Shipped to Europe, the dye created a sensation, producing the brightest, strongest red the world had ever seen. Soon Spain’s cochineal monopoly was worth a fortune. As the English, French, Dutch, and other Europeans joined the chase for cochineal — a chase that lasted for more than three centuries — a tale of pirates, explorers, alchemists, scientists, and spies unfolds.” – Harper Collins
Here’s more information from Harper Collins about “A Perfect Red.”
www.sanbornmills.org
Photo Credits
Photos by Sara Goodman.
“A Perfect Red” cover courtesy HarperCollins.
Sanborn Mills Inc. | (603) 435-7314 | info@sanbornmills.org | www.sanbornmills.org
A traditional New Hampshire farm and nonprofit organization dedicated to sustainability, creativity, and preserving folklife skills and agricultural knowledge so that the best of the past can shape our future.