Textiles and Natural Dyes

Painting and Dying with Natural Materials
4th Grade

Students will learn about the natural dying traditions of Chinchero, a weaving community in the Sacred Valley Region of Peru. Students will learn about what natural dyes, how to find them, and how to use them. Using easily accessible natural materials, such as teas and juices, students will dye yarn to later be used for weaving.

I. Topic: Painting and Dying with Natural Materials
Content Area  

• Big idea: Art and Sustainability

Content Statement/Concept Statement

• Students will learn to use natural, local materials as pigment for dying and painting

II. Objectives / Expected Learner Outcomes

• Students will learn to use natural plant pigments as paint and fabric dye
• Students will learn about renewable resources
• Students will learn why it is important to utilize the natural world around them
• Students will learn about the Chinchero Textile Community and their way of dying fabrics

III. Standards of Education
Related Virginia Visual Arts Standards of Learning

• 4.1 The student will use steps of the art-making process, including brainstorming, preliminary sketching, [planning, and reflecting], to generate ideas for and create works of art.
• 4.12 The student will describe the roles of crafts and artisans in various cultures.
• 4.14 The student will compare and contrast characteristics of diverse cultures depicted in works of art.

IV. Student Group Targeted

• Grade 4

Prerequisite skills/knowledge

• Students will need to have familiarity with teas, coffees and juices
• Students will need famiarity with stains and what kinds of materials stain

V. Time Required
5 30 minute sessions
SESSON 1
Objective: Students will learn about the textile community in Chinchero, Peru. They will use teas, coffee and juices to make a color palette chart to reference when creating dyes to dye yarn the following week.
SOLs

• 4.1 The student will use steps of the art-making process, including brainstorming, preliminary sketching, [planning, and reflecting], to generate ideas for and create works of art.
• 4.12 The student will describe the roles of crafts and artisans in various cultures.
• 4.14 The student will compare and contrast characteristics of diverse cultures depicted in works of art.

VI. Materials and Resources

• hot water (kettle)
• tea (hibiscus, black, green- already brewed)
• coffee (already brewed)
• Juice (grape)
• Cups with caps with holes in the top to dip brushes in
• brushes
• Chart with each tea labeled, and a space to fill in with color.

VII. Itinerary and Instructional Strategies
Key terms/vocabulary to be introduced

• textile
• local resources
• Natural dyes

Questioning strategies/discussion

• We’re going to be starting a textile unit.
• What is a textile? (cloth or woven fabric)
• We will be dying yarn using local, natural materials.
  • local - easily accessible in this area.
  • natural - from nature
• I visited a community in Chinchero Peru where this is exclusively what they did. We’re going to try to use a similar process.
  • Show slideshow of chinchero:
    • Show materials used to dye fabric. (chicha morada, beetles, coca leaves, etc)
    • Look at what that town looks like. Do you think the natural materials they have will be different than the ones we have?
    • Relate dying to staining clothes and ask children to guess what they think we may use?
• I will tell students what natural materials I have for them to use today.
• We’re unfamiliar with these dyes. So we need to do a little experimenting and investigating. So today we will try all of the dyes on paper to see what kind of colors we’ll get when we dye yarn with them.

Demonstration/guided practice

• Helpers will hand out charts and students will put their names on them. Helpers will hand out a tray with a set of dyes to each table
• I will use the document cam to demonstrate how to use the materials and the scientific observation chart. Students will go through the first tea together.

Student independent practice/activity

• Students will have the remainder of class to experiment and document with natural dyes

Demonstration / guided practice

• We will go over the chart together at the end of class. I will encourage students to fill in more details from the group.

Checking for understanding

• class discussion
• paint quality (consistency, saturation)

Time flow

• 7 - discussion
• 8 - demo / guided practice
• 15 - experiment
• 5 - clean up
• 5 - closure

Closure

• we will talk about what we did this class
• we will talk about what is to come for next class
  • Make some predictions about what will change, if anything, and why?

IX. Suggested Supplemental Activities

• Go on a field trip to gather natural materials for painting / dying

SESSION 2
Objective: Students will mix teas, coffee and juices to create dyes for yarn.

SOLs

• 4.1 The student will use steps of the art-making process, including brainstorming, preliminary sketching, [planning, and reflecting], to generate ideas for and create works of art.
• 4.12 The student will describe the roles of crafts and artisans in various cultures.
• 4.14 The student will compare and contrast characteristics of diverse cultures depicted in works of art.

VI. Materials and Resources

• tupperware for dye baths
• skeins of yarn (made last week)
• pre-brewed teas and coffee and juices
• something to stir with (stick, ruler, pencil?)

Key terms

• dye bath
• agitate

Discussion

• We will talk about mixing a dye bath - a vat of dye that our fabric soaks in
  • based on our charts, we can guess what colors we will get with our yarn and we can mix colors too, but beware of the smell you might end up with.
  • what do you think grape juice and coffee together will look like? A deep purple brown?
  • Will the yarn get tangled if we just drop a bunch in and mix it up? How can we prevent that? Make a skein.

Demonstration/guided practice

• I will demo making a dye bath by using measuring cups to mix a color.
• I will demo dropping yarn into it and agitating the yarn - stirring it

Independent Practice

• Students will make dye baths for their yarn by mixing colors of teas. They will work as a table, referencing their chart from week 1, to come up with a recipe of what teas they would like to mix.  
• Skeins of yarn will be ready and tea will be brewed in large quantities and remain with the teacher. Each table will come up, with their recipe, and the teacher will help them mix it in a bowl/tupperware.
• They will take yarn and their dye bath back to their seats where they will agitate the yarn

Checking for understanding

• class discussion
• test strips in dye baths to check colors

Time flow

• 5 - discussion
• 5 - dye bath explanation and demo
• 15 - make dye bath and drop in
• 5 - closure

Closure

• We will discuss how yarn takes a while to dye, especially because we aren’t  using heat. The yarn will remain in the dye baths for a couple days, then the teacher will take it out and hang it to dry so it is ready to be used next class.

SESSION 3
Objective: Students will use their dyed yarn to create an embroidered illustrations
SOLs

• 4.1 The student will use steps of the art-making process, including brainstorming, preliminary sketching, [planning, and reflecting], to generate ideas for and create works of art.
• 4.12 The student will describe the roles of crafts and artisans in various cultures.

VI. Materials and Resources

• All materials will be passed out on a tray, one for each table


• dyed yarn
• Heavy weight paper (~12x12)
• embroidery needles
• scissors
• paper needle threaders
• tape

VII. Itinerary and Instructional Strategies
Key terms/vocabulary to be introduced

• Embroidery
• embroidery needles
• Yarn that the kids dyed

Questioning strategies/discussion

• We will review our dye materials and process and Chinchero
• We will discuss the yarn that we’ve made - see how kids feel about the colors
• Students will discuss embroidery and talk about their past experience with sewing or embroidery. Have they used them? Have they seen them? How/where? How are they used?


• We’re going to use the yarn we made of make an embroidery drawing. They can make marks and lines with thread just like they can with pencils. What they draw is up to them, but Ill show them some artists that use embroidery in this way if they’re having trouble coming up with an idea.
• **Safety conversation: needles are my own and they are a privilege for you to use. If i see you horsing around or doing something dangerous even once, I’m taking it and you’ll use a pencil and just draw with that**

Demonstration/guided practice

• Helpers will pass out paper and needles. I will call tables up to pick a skein of yarn to work with.
• Using the document cam, I will show students how to
  • thread a needles
  • tape the end to the back
  • show how to do this when yarn runs out and how to pick up again with a new piece.
  • do running stitch (stitches should be shorter than the width of your finger)

Student independent practice/activity

• Students will have more time than this class to finish their illustrations. They should work independently and raise a hand for help when they need it.

Checking for understanding

• checking in with students individually and assisting with embroidery issues

Time flow

• 5 - discussion
• 10 - demo / guided practice
• 15 - independent practice
• 5 - clean up
• 5 - closure

Closure

• we will review vocabulary
• kids will let me know what they had a hard time with so I can help with that next class.

SESSION 4

Objective: Students will continue to work on their embroidered illustrations
SOLs

• 4.1 The student will use steps of the art-making process, including brainstorming, preliminary sketching, [planning, and reflecting], to generate ideas for and create works of art.
• 4.12 The student will describe the roles of crafts and artisans in various cultures.
• 4.14 The student will compare and contrast characteristics of diverse cultures depicted in works of art.

VI. Materials and Resources

• All materials will be passed out on a tray, one for each table.
• dyed yarn
• Heavy weight paper (~12x12)
• embroidery needles
• scissors
• paper needle threaders
• tape

VII. Itinerary and Instructional Strategies
Key terms/vocabulary to be introduced

• Embroidery
• embroidery

Questioning strategies/discussion

• We will review what we did last class: embroidery
• Today we will finish our embroidery illustrations and we can add paint to them as well.

Demonstration/guided practice

• Helpers will pass out paper and needles and supply trays
• I will demonstrate any techniques students want to see
• I will

Student independent practice/activity

• Students will have this and next class to finish their illustrations. They should work independently and raise a hand for help when they need it.

Checking for understanding

• checking in with students individually and assisting with embroidery issues

Time flow

• 5 - discussion
• 10 - demo / guided practice
• 15 - independent practice
• 5 - clean up
• 5 - closure

Closure

• we will review vocabulary
• kids will let me know what they had a hard time with so I can help with that next class.

SESSION 5
Objective: Students will finish textile project, adding mixed media if they choose. They will review Chinchero and the dying process.
SOLs

• 4.1 The student will use steps of the art-making process, including brainstorming, preliminary sketching, [planning, and reflecting], to generate ideas for and create works of art.
• 4.12 The student will describe the roles of crafts and artisans in various cultures.
• 4.14 The student will compare and contrast characteristics of diverse cultures depicted in works of art.

VI. Materials and Resources

• All materials will be passed out on a tray, one for each table


• dyed yarn
• Heavy weight paper (~12x12)
• embroidery needles
• scissors
• paper needle threaders
• tape
• teas (hibiscus, black, chamomile, green)
• grape juice
• coffee

VII. Itinerary and Instructional Strategies
Key terms/vocabulary to be introduced

• mixed media

Questioning strategies/discussion

• We will review what we did last class: embroidery
  • what issues did people have with embroidery?
  • What was most difficult?
  • What techniques do you want to see demonstrated?
• What materials did we use to dye our yarn? (Hibiscus tea, green tea, black tea, chamomile tea, grape juice, coffee)


• We will use those materials again to add to our illustrations. You can paint around the embroidery, or over top of it.
• What is mixed media? (using more than one art medium in a work of art)

Demonstration/guided practice

• Helpers will pass out paper and needles.
• I will demonstrate any techniques students want to see concerning embroidery
• I will demonstrate using teas as watercolor and adding them to an illustration

Student independent practice/activity

• Students will have this and next class to finish their illustrations. They should work independently and raise a hand for help when they need it.

Checking for understanding

• checking in with students individually and assisting with embroidery or mixed media issues

Time flow

• 5 - discussion
• 10 - demo / guided practice
• 15 - independent practice
• 5 - clean up
• 5 - closure

Closure

• We will review Chinchero and the natural dye process ​

​VII. Evaluation 
4 - Excellent  
3 - Satisfactory 
2 - Needs Improvement 
1 - Unsatisfactory 

Yarn dye quality
assessed as a class
4 Yarn has been dyed and the class has a wide variety of colors
3 Yarn has been dyed and shows some color variation
2 Yarn has been dyed but shows little color variation
1 Yarn has not been dyed

Embroidery 
4 Student has embroidered using the running stitch and other stitches and has covered most of the page with designs. Most stitches are shorter than 1 cm long.
3 Student has embroidered using the running stitch and has covered much of the page with designs. Most stitches are shorter than 1 cm long.
2 Student has embroidered using the running stitch and has covered some of the page with designs. Some stitches are shorter than 1 cm long.
1 Student has not embroidered or has created many rips and tears in the paper

Respect for Materials 
4 Student uses materials correctly, and stretches them in ways that are not destructive
3 Student uses materials mostly correctly
2 Student uses materials mostly correctly but uses them in some abusive ways
1 Student abuses materials, uses them improperly or is destructive, makes excessive mess