Open for Art 2026: Bundle Dyeing with Natural Dyes

Join Alicia Walker for this hands-on 2 hour bundle dye workshop exploring natural colour and pattern through natural dyes.

Participants will learn the bundle dye technique, experimenting with flowers, food waste, natural dye extracts to dye their own cotton bandana and socks. This process is an opportunity to explore how nature leaves its own marks, creating organic patterns and vibrant colours!

Gently guided by Alicia, the workshop is a perfect opportunity to experiment and make with your intuition, with no pressure to achieve a ‘perfect’ result. All materials provided and no prior experience needed! Please come in clothes you don’t mind getting a bit messy!

This workshop is for adults.

All the events at the Open for Art Festival are free to attend, there is an option to add a donation to help support the festival if you would like to and feel able to.

If you can no longer attend please let us know as places are limted and we can offer your space to someone else.

About the artist

Alicia Walker (b. 2002, Stoke-on-Trent) is a multi-disciplinary textile artist whose work explores locality, slow textiles, and the preservation of traditional craft. Inspired by the decline of Staffordshire's pottery and silk industries, Alicia seeks to keep local craftsmanship alive through slow, traditional techniques,such as natural dyeing and embroidery.

She specialises in natural dyeing, and uses home-grown plants, foraged materials and food waste, blending traditional techniques with contemporary design, promoting sustainability and preserving craft traditions.

OPEN FOR ART

19 JUNE - 28 JUNE 2026

REFLECT This year marks 10 years of Open for Art — a decade of artists, makers, communities, ideas and shared experiences in Reading’s largest town centre creative festival. As we celebrate this milestone, our theme invites everyone to pause and consider how creativity emerges from people coming together — experimenting, making, and reflecting. Our theme for 2026 is REFLECT.

For 10 days, we’re inviting Reading to slow down and seek out pop-up art in shops and businesses, encounter artists as they work, take part in creative sessions, and join conversations about how reflection shapes artistic practice.

Come and REFLECT with us this summer.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

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