Red, Blue and Yellow – the Florence Trust Artist in Residence Workshops

Well, as they say, that was the week that was! We have the delivered our first series of Taster Workshops as Florence Trust Artists in Residence at our new home in Holy Trinity Church, Cloudesley Square, Islington. We are so lucky to have such a great space so close to home and we’d like to…

Beguiling Beni – Safflower Red in Japanese Fashion

One of the great things about working in the V&A is that you get to experience the smaller displays that the experts at the museum curate again and again, allowing you to truly appreciate the subject they are exploring. One of these, in the Japanese Galleries, is ‘Beguiling Beni – Safflower Red in Japanese Fashion’….

Double Weave: Bourne and Allen’s Modernist Textiles

Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft are marking the ten year anniversary of their major redevelopment with an exhibition about the museum’s co-founder Hilary Bourne (1909–2004) and Barbara Allen (1903–1972), her partner in life and work. Hilary and Barbara lived, travelled, designed, made, studied and sold textiles as a couple from 1936 until Barbara’s tragic…

Colours from Nature – A Natural Dyeing Celebration

Last weekend we caught the 4 day pop-up show that celebrated the work of recent and former graduates of Jenny Dean’s popular 6-month natural dyeing course. Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft’s collection is rich with natural dyeing and textile craft. The likes of Ethel Mairet, Valentine Kilbride, Hilary Bourne and Barbara Allen all helped…

Natural Dyeing: A Heritage of Colour at the V&A

It’s been an incredibly busy few weeks for us, but as we sit this weekend, a little dazed and exhausted, I can safely say our course ‘Natural Dyeing: A Heritage of Colour‘ at the V&A Academy couldn’t have gone better! There was a huge amount of preparation involved in getting ready to teach a comprehensive…

Natural Dyeing: A Heritage of Colour at the V&A

We’ve SOLD OUT! But if you’re interested you can add yourself to the waiting list for next year! We’re really excited about this wonderful development – we will be teaching at the V&A Academy in October delivering a week long comprehensive natural dyeing course. Our five day course at the V&A Academy runs from the 2nd to…

Dabu Printing and Indigo Workshop

After the red and black traditional Bagru block printing, we headed across the square used to dry the large lengths of resist printed indigo dyed fabric lengths to the Dabu workshop a few streets away. Dating as far back as the 8th century, Dabu (which comes from the Hindi word Dabana meaning to press) is…

Contact Printing at the Duke

On Thursday we held the first of third of our workshops at the Duke of Cambridge in Islington, the UK’s oldest organic pub (bookable through their website). Sponsored by the Florence Trust and Churchgate Artists Studios CIC, the workshop places included a wonderful set lunch as part of the £20 ticket price. This week Ross delivered an introduction to Contact…

Indigo at the Duke of Cambridge

On Thursday we held the first of four workshops at the Duke of Cambridge in Islington, the UK’s oldest organic pub (bookable through their website). Sponsored by the Florence Trust and Churchgate Artists Studios CIC, the workshop places included a wonderful set lunch as part of the £20 ticket price and was thought a great…

Natural Dyeing Course with Jenny Dean

Applications are now open for the 2022 Natural Dyeing Course at Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft, with renowned expert Jenny Dean, supported by our very own Ross Belton. This is the fourth time this incredibly popular course has run, and this year it will consist of 6 ‘in person’ Sundays at the Museum and…

Natural Dyeing at the Florence Trust – Discover the Beauty of Nature’s Palette

This summer, we are running a series of outdoor workshops at the Florence Trust starting on the 13th of July. On Tuesdays we have ‘Nature’s Palette‘, a 4 week comprehensive natural dyeing course and on Wednesdays we have our regular ‘Dyeing to Stitch‘ days with dyeing in the morning and stitching in the afternoon headed…

Opening Bank Holiday Weekend

We were really lucky this weekend with the weather. It was due to rain everyday but thankfully apart from a brief shower on Sunday, we managed to escape the downpours. They finally arrived on Monday around 5, an hour after we closed the gate! It was lovely to see people back in the garden, with…