Nicole Frost, Guest Teaching Artist
5 days • April 23 – 27, 2024
10 am – 4 pm, daily
Pricing:
Nonmembers: $725, Members: $652.50
Payment plans and scholarships available. For questions, reach out to Cristin McKnight Sethi: cmcknightsethi@textilecentermn.org.
To apply for a scholarship, please fill out the Textile Center Scholarship Application.
Explore the magic of color and master a variety of complex dyeing and fiber processing techniques with Guest Teaching Artist Nicole Frost in this 5-day intensive workshop. Learn all of the major techniques necessary to clean a fleece, paint roving, and dye silk, nylon and wool for use in spinning, felting, and other related fiber art projects. Get exclusive early access to techniques from her upcoming book (Dyeing for Spinners), which provides step-by-step insight for how to reverse engineer the dye process to get the results you want!
Begin by learning how to dye in metric with precise ratios and repeatable results. Paint roving through direct application as well as through kettle dyeing to achieve variegated colors and solid shades at different color values. On Day Two, explore the properties of silk, the different classifications of nylon, and how to process cellulose fibers (cotton, bamboo). Learn proper wetting and dyeing techniques to use with each. On Day Three, learn how to select a fleece and explore the history and different characteristics of popular sheep brands with a focus on dye approaches to create solid, broken, or cloudlike color. Dye superwash and non superwash fibers for a spinning characteristics comparison. Engage in a breed study to gain insight into various kinds of fleece, including Cheviot, Blue Faced Leicester, Corriedale, Falkland, Merino, Polwarth, Targhee, and Wensleydale. On Day Four, dye a 66 Color Fiber Triad on white, brown and grey fiber to create a color swatch book. Finally, learn how to card all of these fiber elements into marl, ombre, striping, tweed, and variegated effects to create a beautiful art batt.
All levels are welcome! Materials fee of $185 payable to the instructor at the start of the workshop covers all necessary supplies including 1000 grams of superfine merino, 200 grams of fleece, 200 grams of silk, 200 grams of nylon, handouts, and dye samples to go home with.
In conjunction with this workshop, join us for a special online Art Speaks conversation with Nicole Frost on Monday, March 18, 2024 from 12 – 1 pm CST: Art Speaks: Dyeing for Spinners and Felters with Nicole Frost
Info for out-of-town guests:
For our out of town guests, nearby accommodations are available with our partner hotel, Hampton Inn and Suites, University Ave. in Minneapolis. For the special Textile Center rate and more info, visit our website here: textilecentermn.org/visit/
Instructor Bio:
Nicole Frost (she/her) created Frost Yarn in her Father’s studio kitchen in 2008 with fisherman’s wool and food coloring. She was out of work in a recession and had learned to knit while she finished a degree to “wait out the joblessness.” Little did she know this was going to be her job and passion for the next 15 years! Nicole had a vision of vivid colors, ethereal cloudlike nebulas, crystals, opals and iridescent rainbows for her projects. But no such yarn existed. When she set out to create these colors, she was completely oblivious to the thousands of hours of research and development she was embarking on.
Nicole dyed yarn like a woman shipwrecked. She spent time knitting or spinning in her college classes during lectures, reading books on the history of sheep breeding, writing research papers on the history of knitting, spinning and weaving, and learning dye chemistry the hard way. Nicole’s goal for the last 15 years of teaching has been to demystify the ancient art of hand processed textiles, be it the chemistry of dyeing, the art of combining fibers on a drum carder, hand spinning or dyeing for a specific pattern. She has found a way to condense thousands of hours of research and development into short format workshops that cover all of the fundamentals with an excellent reference package that sets students up for success. Nicole believes that nobody should have to felt as many fleeces, fry as many skeins, and pollute as many kitchen appliances as she has to acquire this knowledge. Skip the frustration, leap frog the failures, and head straight to dyeing success!
Want to become a member and receive the member price when you register? Click HERE to check out our membership levels, add a membership to the cart, and save 10% on all classes plus other benefits, including supporting a great organization!
