Winki Allen
Textile Artist and Fellow Member of the Craftsmen's Guild of Mississippi
Slow Design Slow Color
Winki Allen is a botanical fabric dyeing artist. She dyes in the purest, most chemical free method available.
She maintains a beautiful working dyeing garden at her home in Enterprise, Mississippi.
Tuesday evening, after dinner, we will gather on the breezeway while Winki demonstrates the preparation of a ferrous indigo vat with indigo from her dyeing garden. This vat will then sit overnight undisturbed. First thing the next morning she will stir the vat again and let it sit for an additional one to two hours. At that time, she will demonstrate indigo dyeing and will have fabric for participants to get their hands in the vat and dye a piece of their own. Each piece will go into a vinegar bath to set the colors and then we will hang the pieces on clothes line between the trees on the lawn
for all to enjoy throughout the day as they dry.
These pieces will be yours to take home!
She maintains a beautiful working dyeing garden at her home in Enterprise, Mississippi.
Tuesday evening, after dinner, we will gather on the breezeway while Winki demonstrates the preparation of a ferrous indigo vat with indigo from her dyeing garden. This vat will then sit overnight undisturbed. First thing the next morning she will stir the vat again and let it sit for an additional one to two hours. At that time, she will demonstrate indigo dyeing and will have fabric for participants to get their hands in the vat and dye a piece of their own. Each piece will go into a vinegar bath to set the colors and then we will hang the pieces on clothes line between the trees on the lawn
for all to enjoy throughout the day as they dry.
These pieces will be yours to take home!
SLOW DESIGN SLOW COLOR
Textile Artist and Fellow Member of the Craftsman's Guild of Mississippi.
Winki is a botanical fabric dyeing artist. She dyes in the purest, most chemical free method available. She maintains a beautiful working dyeing garden at the home.
Winki is a botanical fabric dyeing artist. She dyes in the purest, most chemical free method available. She maintains a beautiful working dyeing garden at the home.
Winki has work available for purchase in these galleries
William Waller Craft Center, Ridgeland, Mississippi
Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson, Mississippi
The Attic Gallery in Vicksburg, Mississippi
The Tree House Gallery in Oxford, Mississippi
The Crooked Letter Gallery in Meridian, Mississippi
Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson, Mississippi
The Attic Gallery in Vicksburg, Mississippi
The Tree House Gallery in Oxford, Mississippi
The Crooked Letter Gallery in Meridian, Mississippi
"Participants attending the Featherweight Retreat at Gray Center will have the opportunity to purchase a variety of Winki's work during the Vendor Day scheduled for Wednesday, July 8th. And one of your three pieces included in your fabric waxing kit will be provided by Winki so you will also have a piece of her work to wax and take home with you to be used in your kitchen!
Thank you, Winki!
See below for slide shows of Winki's Garden, Works in Process, and Completed Works
"I Bumped a few of my fresh leaf dyed pieces up a notch with a dip in the new henna vat. I'm liking these." Winki
Winki Allen, Textile Artist
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Silas and silk/wool blends
are ready and waiting to be pressed. |
Works in progress in
Winki's dyeing garden. |
This process of fresh leaf indigo dyeing, with Persicara tinctorial plants that I have grown in my own garden, continues to be one of the most joyful experiences that I have in working in textiles. Yesterday, I dyed scarves, hankies, a cape, and a wool/silk shawl, all in the various types, weaves, and weights of fabric. Oh, my gosh, it was a hard days work...and worth it.
The stems from the stalks I cut are trimmed and in water rooting for replanting. While I still have about 5 full days of work left with indigo I've grown, I hope to get another crop to harvest during cooler days this fall.
I'm not sure I would be enjoying textiles, gardening and the labor involved were it not for the influence and support of my family of origin. I think of them often when I am working. I feel so blessed by these women who influenced me and, of course, for my dad and granddad who showed me that I could do anything I wanted to as long as I was sure, steady, consistent, and willing to work hard for it.
The stems from the stalks I cut are trimmed and in water rooting for replanting. While I still have about 5 full days of work left with indigo I've grown, I hope to get another crop to harvest during cooler days this fall.
I'm not sure I would be enjoying textiles, gardening and the labor involved were it not for the influence and support of my family of origin. I think of them often when I am working. I feel so blessed by these women who influenced me and, of course, for my dad and granddad who showed me that I could do anything I wanted to as long as I was sure, steady, consistent, and willing to work hard for it.
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At your request, the inside of my studio. It's a working studio! The covered deck gets me out of the sun because I don't run the dye pots on the inside.
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Took a walk through the dye and veggie garden, after first fertilizing with fish emulsion. Then, I started a silk piece in a solar dye test with a bit of my home grown weld..I'll remove it in two days, do a middle mordant with alum, rinse, and then put it back in the weld. The weld plant is putting on seed. I've enjoyed it so much on its two year cycle. I do love gardening.
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Winki Allen
Textile Artist and Fellow Member of the Craftsman's Guild of Mississippi
I am a native Mississippian and both a weaver and a surface design textile artist since the 1970's. I currently reside on Dollar Lake in Clarke County, Mississippi with my husband of 50 years, Kent, who is an artist and a potter.
I am an exhibiting member/craft fellow with the Craftsman's Guild of Mississippi, Inc. and a graduate of the University of Alabama.
I currently serve on the Advisory Council for the Fashion Design and Merchandising Program at Mississippi State University.
I teach textile painting, natural dyeing and botanical printing both privately and in group settings. I have sites on both Facebook and Instagram as Winki.allen.silks and my webpage is www.winkisilks.com
I am an exhibiting member/craft fellow with the Craftsman's Guild of Mississippi, Inc. and a graduate of the University of Alabama.
I currently serve on the Advisory Council for the Fashion Design and Merchandising Program at Mississippi State University.
I teach textile painting, natural dyeing and botanical printing both privately and in group settings. I have sites on both Facebook and Instagram as Winki.allen.silks and my webpage is www.winkisilks.com
Connect with Winki on Facebook, Instagram or by email.