Back to the Roots – Workshop on Textile Dyeing with Natural Organic Dyes Second announcement (11/30/2011 - 12/2/2011)

Second announcement

The workshop is aimed to promote a better understanding of the nature, preparation and use of natural organic dyes, which were relevant for textile dyeing in pre industrial times.  The training will be targeted at conservator-restorers, scientists and art historians who have a special interest in historical textiles, and who wish to deepen their theoretical and practical knowledge of the dyeing mechanism with traditional natural dyestuffs.
During the 3-day workshop the participnts will learn to prepare dye baths from a selection of dyestuffs and mordants according to laboratory recipes based on historical information. Dyestuffs from plant and insect source materials will be used, representative for historical textile dyeing, such as dyer's greenweed, redwood, fustic, cochineal, logwood, gall, sawwort, madder, weld, annatto, quercitron oak, turmeric, saffron and Persian berries.
Secondly, dye experiments will be done with madder and weld following different base recipes varying systematically process parameters to demonstrate their effect on the final result. A third session will be dedicated to some more complex dyeings. The practical experiments will be accompanied by theoretical presentations on the provenance and historical background of the natural dye sources, as well as their chemistry and the analytical identification.
The workshop is free. Participants are required to cover their travel expenses.
The workshop will be supervised by Jo Kirby Atkinson (National Gallery London), Maarten van Bommel (RCE), André Verhecken (Belgium) and Ina Vanden Berghe (KIK/IRPA).

Further information
Second announcement with the preliminary agenda and the application form on-line. on KIK-IRPA website. The final program will be added shortly.
Deadline for application: September 10, 2011
Please send a request for the application form to the coordinator Ina Vanden Berghe: ina.vandenberghe@kikirpa.be