This two-hour workshop will be an action-packed exploration of the literal actual forest MAGIC that is mushroom dyeing. Come prepared to gasp and clutch your pearls at some of the transformations these pigments undergo!
In the workshop, we’ll:
Dye fiber using two local species of wild mushrooms (lobster/Hypomyces lactiflorum and Dyer’s Polypore/Phaeolus schweinitzii)
Take home six silk handkerchiefs replete with the four vibrant and unique colors we’ll be alchemizing
Learn about and manipulate the various variables that shift the colors of the pigments
Please bring along with you:
Plenty of water for our 2-hour hang-out, a hat and sunglasses if you are sun-sensitive.
OPTIONAL: additional fiber to dye beyond the silk scarves you’ll be provided with. Items should be protein fiber (wool, silk, angora, alpaca, mohair, leather, etc.) and will be used in the exhaust baths leftover after our initial dye sessions.
OPTIONAL: you’ll all receive handouts that cover the broad strokes of what we’ll go over together, but if you’re a note-taker, you might want to come prepared with your own paper and writing implement.
Location and Accessibility
Berkeley, CA Exact address is provided with registration.
We acknowledge this land is the traditional land of the Ohlone people.
Our classroom space is outdoors and is up about 30 stairs and is unfortunately not wheelchair accessible. There will be partial shade and partial sun, you can stand in whichever you prefer.
Instructors
This program is led by Wilder Herbertson whose passion is for co-creating experiences, skills, knowledge, and lifestyle amendments that serve our individual and collective re-membering (coming back into an embodied relationship with) and understanding of our connection with, responsibilities toward, and reliance on the ecosystems in which we live. They invite others into experiences that support earth connection and ancestral skills practices. Wilder teaches salve-making, wild fermentation, mushroom, lichen, and plant dyeing, making cord out of plants, slaughtering support, and more!
Additional support staff includes Carrie Staller.
Ticket Options
A portion of your program fee goes to Sogorea Te' Land Trust, an urban Indigenous women-led land trust based in the San Francisco Bay Area that facilitates the return of Indigenous land to Indigenous people. Whether you can join us for this program or not, we encourage you to donate to them here.
Adults
$125 Pay it Forward (I'd like to support someone else to come)
$100 Standard Ticket
$75 Community Supported (these are supported by Pay it Forward tickets)
Children (recommended for ages 8 and up)
$65 per child (under 18)
More Important Details
These programs are very popular and fill up often very quickly. We encourage you to register right away if you'd like to attend!