Venetia Galanaki, Malamatenia Ploumi & Antonia Dretaki _ Textiles and Natural Dyeing Workshop

Venetia Galanaki, Malamatenia Ploumi & Antonia Dretaki_ Weaving Workshop & Natural Dyes

Type of seminar: Workshop - Practical

Participant Level: Beginners

Teaching hours: July 7-12 | 11:00-14:00 & 18:00-20:30

The workshops are for beginners and will help you in your first steps in the arts of weaving and dyeing

Weaving

Tapping into traditional techniques we will begin to understand the magic and possibilities of the loom as well as thinking in terms of warps and wefts. In a world that moves at unimaginable speeds, weaving becomes a necessity as a means of returning to normal rhythms.

In this workshop we will practice:

• Assembling, setting up and warping the traditional floor loom

• Simple weaving and color changes

• Different techniques for creating traditional and modern designs (embroidery, couscous, flocate, deximato)

• Simple ways to close off the woven fabric

We will practice on traditional floor looms. Outside the teaching hours, the workshop will remain open for students to practice on the loom so that you can take your time with the craft.

Natural dyeing

Nature stores an amazingly beautiful palette of colours that can be used to create enchanting fabrics. During this workshop you will be introduced to the various techniques and plants used to extract colour such as onion skins, avocado pits and loquat leaves.

Through this traditional practice we can realize the origin of the fabric that surrounds us and create unique pieces that reflect the landscape. All the plants used in this workshop are either harvested or purchased from local farmers and the fabric used is either recycled or organic.

We will try three to four different plants and flowers creating a variety of colours using modifiers. You will dye swatches of different fabrics and colours.

You will be given a guide with detailed information on the dyeing process.

The Instructors

Venetia Galanaki

Venetia Galanaki was born in Athens and lives in Sitia. She loves yarn and all its arts and is interested in slow, traditional and environmentally friendly practices.

For more you can find her work on Instagram and Facebook.

instagram: loquattextiles facebook: loquattextiles

Malamatenia Zervou Ploumi

Malamatenia Zervou Ploumi was born in Zoniana of Mylopotamos at Rethymno. At the age of seventeen she got married. She lives with Manolis Ploumis, her husband in Sitia, Lasithi, in the village of Epano Episkopi. She has three children, two daughters and a son, and is a grandmother of three wonderful grandchildren. She is mainly engaged with housework and agricultural work. In her spare time, she practices weaving, embroidery and knitting. Early in her childhood she came into contact with the art of weaving art due to the fact that her mother Garifalia Zervou was a weaver who also taught her the "mito". From the age of thirteen until the age of seventeen, when she left Zoniana, she was a professional weaver. She became more actively involved with weaving again in 2013 at the urging of the Progressive Association of Sitia "O Vitsentzos Kornaros" which at that time supported the efforts of the University of the Mountains in the Penelope Gandhi project, in an exhibition at the Benaki Museum. The types of weaving she mainly practices are traditional Cretan and are: triopatitiros, kouskouses, deximo, rags, kilims and bourges. And as she says jokingly: "and the rest...!!!"

Antonia Dretaki

Antonia Dretaki grew up and lives in Sitia. He has been involved in various arts from an early age, with an emphasis in recent years on lino printing, bookbinding and the use of natural dyes on fabric and paper. A source of inspiration is the landscape and nature, as well as the peaceful way of life that the countryside offers.

For more information, you can visit her Instagram page antoniadre