Upcoming Learning Opportunities
IN-STUDIO
From Plant to Pigment: Cook the Book
Botanical Colors
Seattle, Washington
June 25 - 28, 2026
In this four-day workshop, participants will follow along with Natalie to cook their way through her book From Plant to Pigment: How to make your own vibrant inks, pastels and paints, concocting a rainbow of lake pigments from a variety of extraction methods. We’ll also dip into indigo pigments, charcoal, ink, and pastel. Working through the recipes with Natalie’s guidance, we will reveal the operative chemistry of botanical pigments, come to grips with the question of lightfastness, and learn to control the value, saturation, translucency, and opacity of our colors.
This workshop is designed to provide a solid technical foundation, along with rich context for artistic inspiration and conceptual connectivity. Participants will leave with a travel case of 12 watercolors in brilliant hues, and the knowledge to continue expanding their palette with handmade botanical pigments. Don’t let From Plant to Pigment suffer the fate of so many art manuals and cookbooks: sitting on a shelf to gather dust, their contents unplumbed and lessons unlearned!
ONLINE
Inky Blackness: Concocting Historical Iron Gall Ink
Smithsonian Folklife
Artist WorkTalk
July 8, 2026
Join Natalie Stopka in a live online demonstration of ink making, during which we discuss the particularly entrancing visual and chemical properties of this richly-colored writing and drawing medium. Like the scribes of yore, learn to make your own ink from foraged plants and scavenged metal (or store bought alternatives!). Natalie's recipes, foraging guidelines, and equipment recommendations are shared. Q+A follows the presentation.
The workstalk is open to all skill levels. Registered participants receive a list of recommended materials if they would like to experiment with iron gall inkmaking on their own after the WorkTalk.
IN-STUDIO
A Handmade Palette: Natural, Historical & Garden-grown Watercolors
John C. Campbell Folk School
Brasstown, North Carolina
July 19 - 25, 2026
Where does color come from? Delve into the history, chemistry, and hands-on practice of making pigments and paint. Concoct your own palette of handmade watercolors inspired by artists’ recipes from the 14th to the 17th-century, including earth pigments, lake pigments from the dye garden, and charcoal combined with natural medium. Return home with a paint box of twelve watercolors, a sketchbook of recipes and swatches, and the knowledge to continue expanding your palette.
Discounts available to residents of local NC counties, veterans, teachers, and young adults.
IN-STUDIO
Botanical Alchemy: Exploring Extraction Methods for Natural Dyes and Lake Pigments
Sanborn Mills Farm
Loudon, New Hampshire
July 29 - August 2, 2026
Dye plants are remarkable factories of color, biosynthesizing a rainbow of hues for natural dyers, inkmakers, and lake pigment lovers. How do we make the most of these natural resources, eliciting the broadest range and maximum yield of color? Join Natalie Stopka for a five-day exploration of dye extraction methods utilizing plants from the dye garden and beyond. Inspired by recipes from historical dye works and pigment manufacture, we’ll undertake a case study of four plants and four extraction methods: digestion, decoction, fermentation, and tincture. Learn which methods are suited to which plants, and how extraction methods influence dyeing and laking procedures. Participants will leave with a laboratory notebook (provided) documenting our 16+ extractions utilized as dye and pigment, and a personal project: ink, paint, or dyed fibers to fold into their own studio practice. They will also take with them the knowledge to extrapolate our analysis and findings to other plants in future. Some prior experience with dyes or pigments preferred.
Skills and Techniques
Chemistry for artists: dye colorant categorization and pH explication
Exploration and analysis of plant pigments using DIY chromatography
Case study extracting 4 plants by decoction, digestion, fermentation, and tincture
Swatches of 16+ extractions utilized as dye and pigment, organized in our laboratory notebooks
Riveting stories from the history and artistry of color manufacture, from the medieval scriptorium, dye works, and alchemist’s laboratory, up to the present day
Learn about Sanborn Mills Farm Scholarship Opportunities.
IN-STUDIO
Plant Pigments & Handmade Inks
Tatter
Brooklyn, New York
August 15
Learn to transform the liquid hues of natural dyes into vibrant pigments with Natalie Stopka, author of From Plant to Pigment. This workshop delves into the history, chemistry, and hands-on practice of ink making with lake pigments. Utilizing three botanical and one insect colour source, together we’ll concoct a mini palette: four bottles of liquid gouache for use with a brush or dip pen. We’ll also mull over the history of color, with snippets from the artist’s studio, monastic scriptorium, and alchemist’s laboratory. Participants will leave with a set of handmade inks and the knowledge to continue expanding their rainbow of homemade hues. Every shade in our palette tells a story through its rich, characterful, botanical color.
Contact Natalie with queries about remote private instruction on intermediate and advanced topics.