Summer Skill Building Series

Printing with Foraged Pigments

August 13, 2025
3:00 pm to 6:00 pm

An assortment of natural pigments spread out on a printing table along with a screenprinting frame that has been used for test prints.
Workshop samples prepared by FWM Education. Photo credit: Carlos Avendaño.

Learn about the process of creating and printing with plant-based inks on fabric.  

With recipes and tips from the arts research collective Biomaterials Working Group (BWG), explore the use of pigments from locally foraged plants and seaweed to create natural screenprinting inks and emulsion. This workshop includes an artist talk, discussion of bioethics and waste studies, and a hands-on introduction to sustainable printing materials. Using prepared imagery from BWG, apply your new skills by printing on a cotton bandana. 

Nescafé will be served and also used as one of the printing materials! 

Summer Skill Building Series 

Enhance your studio or teaching practice with this summer skill building series. Each session, we’ll play with sustainable materials and techniques and use fabric in functional ways.

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Event Information

August 13, 2025
3:00 pm to 6:00 pm

The Fabric Workshop and Museum
1214 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107

Sixth Floor Print Studio

$30 Public | $25 FWM members, teachers, and students with a valid ID

Register

About the Participants

Aphotograph of a group of five young adults standing together in a field in the winter smiling for the cameraThe Biomaterials Working Group (BWG), is an arts research collective based in the part of Lenapehoking called Philadelphia. Members include Marcellus Armstrong, Jazmyn Crosby, Theo Loftis, Cecilia McKinnon, and Elizabeth Shores. As artists, educators, and researchers, they share an interest in exploring sustainable alternatives to plastics and toxic materials conventionally used in studio art practices, as well as a broad curiosity about the transformative potential of everyday materials used in unconventional ways. Their various avenues of exploration include: algae-based bioplastics, eggshell concrete, fermentation, natural pigments, kombucha leather, and saltwater radio antennae.