Natural Dye Study Group
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What is a Natural Dye Study Group?
The purpose of this group is to create ways for people interested in natural dyes to share their work over the winter, ask questions, share resources, and deepen their connection to the Sanborn Mills Farm Natural Dye Program.
Benefits & Cost
- There will be at least 4 zoom sessions led by Sara Goodman, the lead dye studio instructor @SMF.
- Private Facebook Group where members can post pictures of their work, their process, and ask questions of each other – moderated by Sara.
- Access to the Sanborn Mills Farm Dye Studio to either work on projects or participate in a guided dye project with Sara.
- Study Group members have the potential to apply to become assistants in the natural dye workshops at Sanborn Mills Farm. This means you can take the class for free in exchange for helping the instructor.
- A registration fee of $25 gets you access to the private Facebook group and the zoom sessions with Sara. In Studio sessions are an additional fee.
The Dye Studio
High quality burners help to create the perfect dye pot.
The studio is equipped with stainless steel wash sinks and standing height work tables for a comfortable dyeing experience.
Fully stocked supply shelf with everything you need for a successful natural dye project. We source our extracts from Botanical Colors and Maiwa.
In addition to stocked extracts we also provide dried natural dye material from our own natural dye garden which includes woad, weld, madder, hopi sunflowers, dyers coreopsis and much more!
Sara Goodman is the lead dye studio instructor at Sanborn Mills Farm. She was instrumental in the conception and creation of this state of the art teaching facility.
Sara is a textile artist, that is, she is a dyer, weaver, spinner, stitcher, surface designer and lover of all things with color and cloth. She maintains a studio in Center Harbor, NH on Squam Lake.
Over 18 years ago Sara stopped using chemical dyes and dedicated herself to using only natural dyes in her work. She felt the times demanded a closer examination of process and an effort to do whatever she could to work sustainably in terms of her methods and materials.
Her work has been featured in major textile art publications and shown in national and international exhibitions such as Julie’s Artisans Gallery in New York, the Cambridge Artists’s Collective in Massachusetts, the Textile Society of America conference held at SCAD in Savannah, Georgia and Living with Craft at the Sunapee Craft Fair in New Hampshire. She is a juried member of the League of NH Craftsmen.
Sara has traveled throughout the world in the pursuit of textiles to: Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Japan, Indonesia, Nepal, India, and China. This travel eventually involved her in projects with local artisans; for example helping to get the Symplocos Project off the ground in Indonesia (go to plantmordant.org to learn more.)
Sara served for six years on the Board of Directors of the Goodweave Foundation — an NGO dedicated to eliminating child slave labor in the handmade carpet industry in South Asia. After her board term ended in 2012, she was invited to design a collection of handwoven carpets, based on her original shibori designs, for Khawachen Inner Asia in Hanover, NH. Then in November of 2014 she attended the World Shibori Conference in Hangzhou, China where she delivered a paper entitled, “Weaving Hope: Goodweave Certified Shibori Designed Carpets”. Three of her pieces — two carpets and one handwoven, shibori lined coat — were in the exhibition held at the National Silk Museum in Hangzhou.
Sara enjoys teaching, initiating young and experienced makers to the deep satisfaction that comes with making something by hand. She has led workshops at the Arrowmont School of Crafts in Gatlinburg, TN; at the Maiwa School of Textiles in Vancouver, B.C. and at the Pacific Northwest Art School on Whidbey Island in Washington State. For 8 years she has taught a beginning weaving class for the League of NH Craftsmen in Center Sandwich called, “Five Warps in Five Days.”
