Natural Dye & Organic Watercolor Workshop
Rediscover the heritage of natural color through an immersive, artisan-led textile workshop in Santa Monica.
Join us at ARTime BARRO for a two-day intensive natural dye workshop focused on merino wool dyeing and the creation of handmade organic watercolors. Led by Zapotec weaver and natural dye artisan Anais Adelina Ruiz, this experience blends ancestral knowledge, sustainable practices, and hands-on experimentation with natural pigments.
This workshop explores natural dyeing not only as a technical skill, but as a cultural practice rooted in land, lineage, and time.
About the Workshop:
This Natural Dye & Organic Watercolor Workshop is a 10-hour, hands-on intensive designed for artists, designers, educators, and anyone interested in sustainable textile practices and traditional dyeing methods.
Participants will work directly with plant-based, mineral, and insect-derived dyes, learning how raw materials transform into complex, living color. Each step of the process—preparation, mordanting, dyeing, and finishing—is taught through both practical instruction and cultural context.
Rooted in Zapotec textile traditions from Oaxaca, Mexico, this workshop honors slow-making, variation, and the beauty of imperfection found in naturally dyed fiber.
What to Expect: A Hands-On Natural Dye Experience
This workshop is designed to be immersive, supportive, and accessible, even if you have never worked with natural dyes before.
Over two days, participants will be guided step-by-step through the complete natural dye process, working directly with merino wool and organic pigments under the instruction of Anais Adelina Ruiz.
During this workshop, you will:
Learn how natural dyes are sourced from plants, insects, and minerals
Prepare and mordant merino wool so it is ready to receive natural color
Observe how different materials interact with fiber, water, and heat
Dye wool using traditional Zapotec techniques, producing layered, nuanced color
Explore why natural dyes vary in tone and how to work with those variations
Create handmade organic watercolors using natural pigments
Learn how these techniques can be applied to textile art, painting, or future personal projects
Instruction is hands-on and process-focused. Anais demonstrates each step before guiding participants through their own work, allowing time for questions, experimentation, and observation.
What You’ll Leave With
By the end of the workshop, participants will leave with:
Naturally dyed merino wool samples
Handmade organic watercolor pigments
A foundational understanding of natural dye processes
Practical knowledge you can apply to future textile or art projects
A deeper appreciation for slow craft and cultural heritage
This workshop emphasizes learning through doing, not perfection. No two results are the same, variation is part of the beauty of natural dye.
Why This Workshop Is Different
This is not a synthetic dye class or a surface-level craft workshop.
This experience is rooted in living Zapotec textile traditions, taught by an artisan who actively practices these techniques in her own work in Oaxaca, Mexico. Participants learn not only how to dye, but why these methods matter—culturally, environmentally, and artistically.
The focus is on:
Sustainability over speed
Process over mass production
Cultural respect over trend-based making
Workshop Objective: Natural Color as Cultural Heritage
The goal of this workshop is to reconnect participants with the origins of color, from land to fiber, while honoring the cultural knowledge behind natural dyeing techniques.
Participants will learn to:
Practice traditional Zapotec natural dyeing methods
Dye merino wool using plant, mineral, and insect pigments
Understand how landscape, climate, and season influence color
Create handmade organic watercolors from natural pigments
Explore texture, irregularity, and variation as essential qualities of natural dye
Apply sustainable and slow-making practices to art and textile work
Natural Materials Explored
Participants will work hands-on with traditional dye materials commonly used in Zapotec textile production, including:
Merino Wool (Lana Merino)
Alum (Alumbre)
Indigo
Cochineal
Pericón
Lemon (Limón)
Zapote
Pomegranate (Granada)
Each material will be explored for its preparation, dye behavior, and cultural significance.
Meet the Instructor: Anais Adelina Ruiz
Anais Adelina Ruiz is a Zapotec weaver and natural dye instructor with over 10 years of experience creating handwoven wool textiles (tapetes) using ancestral techniques from Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca, Mexico.
Her work is deeply connected to landscape, often dyed outdoors using natural materials gathered from the environment. The resulting textiles carry subtle variations in tone, texture, and movement that reflect both nature and human touch.
Anais’s refined use of color, traditional patterning, and contemporary sensibility has made her work sought after by interior designers and architects. Her textiles have been exhibited in galleries and showrooms throughout Mexico and internationally, including a featured exhibition at the Witte Museum in San Antonio, Texas.
Zapoteca Textiles — Personal Practice
Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca, Mexico
Natural Dyes Instructor & Textile Artisan
2010 – Present
Creates handmade wool and cotton textiles dyed with natural pigments
Teaches traditional dyeing techniques rooted in Zapotec heritage
Preserves cultural knowledge through education and practice
Develops contemporary textile designs grounded in ancestral methods
Education:
Diploma — Natural Dyes and Watercolors Workshop
Textile Workshop Pochote, Costa Rica (2024)Diploma — Natural Dyes for Cotton
Centro de Artes San Agustín Yatareni, Oaxaca (2022)Diploma — Natural Dyes for Wool
Centro de Artes San Agustín Yatareni, Oaxaca (2021)Diploma — Natural Dyes Preservation Workshop
Centro Cultural de Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca (2019)High School Diploma
Escuela Rufino Tamayo, Oaxaca, Mexico
Languages:
Spanish (Native)
English (Basic)
Who This Workshop Is For:
This workshop is ideal for:
Textile and fiber artists
Designers and interior creatives
Painters interested in organic watercolor
Educators and cultural practitioners
Anyone drawn to natural dyes, sustainability, and living traditions
No prior experience is required.
Workshop Details & Pricing:
Price:
$500
Total Duration:
10 hours
Dates:
March 7 & 8, 2026
Schedule:
10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
(Includes a 1-hour break)
Location:
ARTime BARRO
Santa Monica, California
Materials:
All materials included
Experience Level:
Beginner-friendly, no prior dyeing experience required 18+