Creating Shelter with Nature's Colour [part 2: eco-printing & painting]

Learn the art of natural dyeing with locally foraged plants and help us create bunting
and shelter for our Pavilion of the Commons.
About this Event

Join artist Lara McFarland for the second session of natural dyeing, collective making, and creative exploration as we begin creating colourful bunting and shelter elements for the Pavilion of the Commons.

Working with naturally dyed fabrics prepared during the first workshop, we'll explore eco-printing, botanical impressions, and painting with iron water to add colour, texture, and meaning to our collective creation. Together we'll forage mindfully for leaves, flowers, and natural tools, experimenting with ways of transferring the shapes and colours of the Ouseburn ecology onto fabric.

You do not need to have attended the first workshop to take part. Whether you're joining for the first time or continuing the process, you'll be guided through the techniques and contribute to the final installation.

✨ What to expect

• ☕ Tea, conversation, and unveiling the naturally dyed fabrics
• 🌼 Mindful foraging for leaves, flowers, and natural materials
• 🔨 Learn eco-printing techniques to create botanical patterns on fabric
• 🖌️ Experiment with natural mark-making and painting with iron water
• 🧵 Help assemble the final bunting for the Pavilion of the Commons
• 🥂 Celebrate our collective creations with a glass of elderflower cordial

What to bring (if you can):

• 🥫 Clean recycled cans

No experience necessary. Materials and refreshments provided.

🌱 Part of our Community Build Programme, this creative session is rooted in skill-sharing, collaboration, and making with purpose. Come meet like-minded people, explore sustainable building practices, and help create a shared space for the Ouseburn Festival and local communities joining us.

No experience necessary. Just bring yourself, wear clothes you don't mind getting dusty, and come ready to make, learn, and connect.

All tools, materials, and guidance provided.

🪚 Please note, this session is part of a community build programme taking place between 21st of June to 1st of July. If you'd like to join other sessions, please use the form below: https://forms.gle/5Ds7fNu6QkZFfeFk6

Location: Woods Pottery Site, off Stepney Bank, Ouseburn, NE1 2NP

About the project: Pavilion of the Commons

Pavilion of the Commons is a community-led design-and-build project that brings people together through collective craft and natural building. In the lead-up to the Ouseburn Festival, participants will collaboratively create a small temporary woodland pavilion using natural, seasonal, and reclaimed materials through a series of free, hands-on sessions open to all skill levels.
The project focuses on learning through making, building practical skills, confidence, and a sense of belonging. During the festival, the pavilion will become a shared space for craft workshops, gatherings, and skill-sharing nature-themed activities, celebrating collective creativity and the value of working together in communion with nature and local resources.

About Common C:

Common C is an open collective of doers. We bring people together to creatively celebrate our connection to nature, land and one another through craft, collaboration and collective care.
Our mission is to connect and empower individuals and communities through creative opportunities, building skills, nurturing nature and shared resilience.