Harvesting Fall Color at the Fiber Craft Studio

by Chris Marlow

The Fiber Craft Studio, an initiative under the umbrella of the Threefold Foundation in Chestnut Ridge, NY and The Nature Institute of Ghent, NY held a collaborative weekend workshop at the Studio on the weekend of September 16-18, 2016. Henrike Holdrege of the Nature Institute and Chris Marlow from the Fiber Craft Studio led twenty participants in experiences of color: Henrike, through her background in optics and Chris through her experience in plant dyeing. This collaborative course came about after Chris experienced a week long course, The Roots of Sustainability, at the Nature Institute in June of 2016, and saw the possibility of working together.

The sustainable plant-dyeing activity, accompanied by encounters with Goethean color theory, stimulated the artistic considerations that are possible when dyeing yarn for a knitted project. Experiences of colored shadows, smoke in the sunlight, and after-images all contributed to deepening our understanding of color. In between, we created dye pots, striving to see the warmth and coolness of certain colors in dyed samples of yarn. Using weld (Reseda luteola), onion skin, madder root, and brazil wood, we created primary colors. Then, through over-dyeing with indigo, we saw the many possibilities to create secondary and tertiary colors.

The alternate rhythm of observation, reflection, and then activity with the dye pots was an effective way to heighten our awareness as we worked (see the response from one of the participants, below). The experiences we had with color in the form of light and then as dye pigment on fiber brought understanding and also many questions. We all agreed there could be much more to research in a future workshop or in our own research.

The participants left with 6 ounces of dyed yarn that were dyed with the intention to create a knitted item. We thought about warm and cool colors, color harmonies and values of light and dark colors that would be best suited for our planned projects. It will be wonderful to see some of those completed projects and to continue in this exploration.

Thank you so much again for the wonderful weekend. It was the first time that I was able to ‘feel’ the color. Though it was not the first time that I was dyeing, my relationship with the colors changed completely.

The Studio works out of anthroposophy in the realm of fiber crafts. We are a research and teaching studio; we have a dye garden and we study the many indications from Rudolph Steiner in the realm of clothing, color, and the Waldorf Curriculum. We offer workshops to the public and we are in the 20th year of our Applied Arts Program, a part-time teacher education program for Waldorf handwork teachers; the tenth cycle of the program is enrolling now. A four-year, part-time program for Waldorf Handwork Teacher Education begins July 24–August 4, 2017. Learn more at www.fibercraftstudio.org.

Chris Marlow (chris@fibercraftstudio. org), co-director of the Fiber Craft Studio, graduated from the first Applied Arts Cycle in 1999, and taught handwork at Green Meadow Waldorf School for fifteen years and at the West Side Community School in NYC for two years.