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Heather Thomas

@wildheather_australia

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2019 Churchill fellow. Natural dyes. Natural indigo vats. Machine knitting. Near Melbourne. Australia

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WORKSHOP | Natural Dye Workshop with ATW

Get hands-on and delve into the ideas and materials behind botanical dyeing 🍀. Learn how to identify and use a variety of local eucalyptus to create your own palette of hand dyed woollen yarns in this 3-hour workshop with ATW botanical dye specialist Heather Thomas.

Learn dye extraction methods, resist dye processes, and how to use mineral mordants and overdyeing to create a custom collection of hand dyed yarns. Your ticket includes all materials, a tour of the ATW dye lab and natural yarn samples to take home.

🗓 Saturday 7 November
🕑 1 pm - 4 pm
📍 Australian Tapestry Workshop
🎟 Adult: $170 | ATW Friends / Concession: $155
🔗 https://www.austapestry.com.au/content/natural-dye-workshop-atw-1

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Photos by ATW by @wildheather_australia

“NEWNEW is a bold provocation for Australia’s interiors industry. Conceived by Cultivated + Nexus Designs, this immersive modular pavilion turns rescued iconic furniture, reclaimed timber and zero-waste materials (each with a pre- or post-life circular journey) into a striking domestic-scale interior, proving restoration is one of design’s most powerful environmental opportunities.”

Created by us when we were Nexus Designs collaborating with the driving force for change that is Josh Ellis and @cultivated_au NEWNEW is a Gold Winner at this year’s GOOD DESIGN AWARDS. We hope this recognition enables us to continuing sharing all the goodness this project uncovered. Link in bio ⬆

With continued thanks to partners, suppliers, friends and colleagues who all played a part in bringing this project to life: @cultivated_au @craftedhardwoodscom @mark_tuckey @wildheather_australia @artbankau @oslekcoatings @gerardmurtagh.architect and 📸 @timothykaye by @wildheather_australia

Delighted to see a selection of my naturally dyed yarns displayed as part of PLANT LIFE:The nature of Design exhibition on now @ngvmelbourne The Ian Potter Centre:NGV Melbourne, Fed Square. Dyed @austapestry as part of my work there exploring natural colours on wool available from Australian eucalyptus and wattles. On until February 7th 2027. by @wildheather_australia

Results from a project with @kristibiezaite. Exploring her local coastal native Australian plants, various mineral mordants and hand spun wool. Fun to explore possibilities of enticing out the colours. Orange colours are from a titanium mordant in combination with tannins in the dye pot. A delight to be dyeing with hand spun wool again! by @wildheather_australia

Recently I have been pre mordanting hand spun wool skeins using various mineral salts. This prep makes it easy to explore the colour opportunities available in new dye plants. As I can immerse them all together in the same dye pot, each mineral salt transforming the plant colour in its own way. by @wildheather_australia

So happy to see Siri’s huge weaving and dyeing mission completed and to be part of the journey of its creation! Currently part of the “Watch these hands“ exhibition @heidemoma until Oct 25th. by @wildheather_australia

Discover the art of creating vibrant colours using natural materials you can forage, grow, or buy.

Textile artist and specialist dyer, Heather Thomas (@wildheather_australia), will teach you how to extract colours from plants, flowers, and other organic sources, and apply them to various wool yarn and fabrics in this Natural Dyeing workshop.

You will create a sample card of fabric and yarns to take home, along with notes and recipes.

This workshop is suitable for all skill levels. All materials and supplies will be provided.

8 August 2026, 11:00AM - 04:00PM

Book online through the link in our bio 🔗 by @wildheather_australia

⏳ Only a few spots left for our upcoming Natural Dye Workshop!

Ready to transform local plants into a stunning palette of colour? Join ATW botanical dye specialist Heather Thomas for an immersive 3-hour workshop exploring the art and science of botanical dyeing.

🗓 Saturday 18 July
🕑 1 pm - 4 pm
📍 Australian Tapestry Workshop
🎟 Adult: $165 | ATW Friends / Concession: $150
🔗 Book via the link in bio

✨ Your ticket includes: All materials, an exclusive tour of the ATW dye lab and hand-dyed yarn samples to take home. by @wildheather_australia

Floras Localis
Colour + Sense of Place

Conceived for the recent NGV Melbourne Design Week, this collaborative project brings together two practitioners united by a shared fascination with colour, materiality and place. Drawing on their complementary expertise in natural dyeing and design, the project explores a unique palette of colours derived directly from the Australian landscape using locally sourced natural materials. Through a process of research, experimentation and making, the collaboration seeks to reveal the deep connection between colour and its environment – how natural hues can express a sense of place and evoke the narratives embedded within it. The outcome is presented through a series of textiles and supporting material that documents the creative process and the dialogue between nature, design and place.

Showing as part of a wider exhibition at The Australian Tapestry Workshop now until 11 July this colour research piece has been designed and realised by Sally Evans, Creative Director at @studioxus and Heather Thomas of @wildheather_australia and @austapestry

Photography courtesy @marieluises @f_emera and @wildheather_australia by @wildheather_australia

Floris Localis: Colour and place group exhibition on now @austapestry until July 11th. These first pictures are of the linen, wool fabric and yarn naturally dyed by Sally Evans and I with the native plants found growing at Port Fairy, a coastal town in Victoria. Following are some of the works by other practitioners also exploring colour from place. by @wildheather_australia

Behind the scenes making of our project for Floris Localis: Colour and sense of place. Dyeing done on location at Port Fairy. Obtaining and exploring colour from the local plants. Including Swamp gum, coastal teatree, woolly teatree, silver banksia, Norfolk pine, Salt bush, Blackwood wattle, coastal wattle, she oak, coastal beard heath. A collaborative project between Sally and myself who have a shared fascination with colour, materiality and place. Exhibition on until 11th July at the Australian Tapestry workshop. by @wildheather_australia

Car graveyard out the back of the mechanics today in Katherine town. by @wildheather_australia