50 Shades of Natural Dye on Wool
In-Person Textile Residency in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

February 23 – March 2, 2027
7 Hotel Nights | 5 Teaching Days
Boutique Hotel, San Miguel de Allende

Join me in magical San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, for a full week of color, wool, history, good food, and deep natural dye study.

This is not an online course. It is an in-person textile residency at Boutique Hotel Casa Angelitos, a warm, colorful, character-filled hotel with sweeping views over San Miguel. We will live, eat, and work together in a beautiful setting designed to make the whole week feel like a creative retreat as much as a serious dye course.

The heart of this residency is a structured exploration of historical natural dye recipes on wool, translated into a modern, sustainable workflow.

Over five teaching days, each participant will dye 50 calibrated wool skeins, building a complete personal shade archive from the palest tonal shifts to rich, saturated color. In total, you will work through approximately 500 grams of wool and leave with a practical, repeatable system you can use in your own studio.

Our framework draws on the documented practices of 18th-century French master dyers, especially Antoine Janot and Paul Gout, whose careful approach to mordanting, bath sequencing, and color building shaped the French haute dye tradition.

We will work with classical dyes such as madder, cochineal, weld, and indigo: materials prized historically for their beauty, durability, and technical excellence.

Together, we will explore:

• Structured mordant systems
• Sequential overdyeing
• Calibrated shading from pale to deep
• Bath reuse and exhaustion tracking
• Controlled extraction
• Building repeatable color with less waste
• Historical dye logic adapted for contemporary ecological practice

All dyes are selected with attention to lightfastness, washfastness, historical documentation, and ecological responsibility. Alongside the classical palette, a few carefully chosen contemporary surprises will expand the chromatic range while staying true to the logic of the course.

By the end of the week, you will leave with:

• A complete 50-shade wool reference collection
• A documented and repeatable workflow
• A deeper understanding of historical dye systems
• Practical tools for building color in a structured, sustainable way
• A week of shared study, meals, conversation, and inspiration in San Miguel de Allende

This course is best suited for intermediate to advanced practitioners who want depth, structure, and mastery, not surface experimentation alone.

Pricing

Shared room – 2,290 USD per person
You come with a participating partner or friend.

Single room – 2,690 USD per person

Shared room with non-participating partner – 2,950 USD (for two people)

At this stage, you register with a non-refundable down payment. Final payments are due by November 2026. Payment plans are available.

What Is Included

• 7 nights hotel accommodation
• Daily breakfast
• Lunch on teaching days
• All teaching hours
• Use of studio space during and after teaching hours
• Technical handouts and structured workflow documentation
• Guest instructor sessions
• Opening night dinner
• Closing night dinner

What Is Not Included

• International flights
• Airport transfers
• Travel insurance, which is mandatory
• Dinners, except opening and closing dinners
• Personal excursions
• Materials and base fibers/fabrics, with a detailed list provided in advance
• Tips for the kitchen and cleaning staff, recommended at 10 USD per person per night

Group Size
Maximum 15 participants

Level
Intermediate to Advanced

Language
English, Dutch, and Hebrew

Location
Boutique Hotel Casa Angelitos
San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

About Casa Angelitos

Casa Angelitos is a privately owned boutique hotel full of Mexican charm. The rooms are individually styled, colorful, and slightly quirky in the best possible way, with textured walls, handcrafted details, and a warm, personal atmosphere.

Our working terrace has sweeping views across San Miguel de Allende, with sunrise and sunset light over the hills becoming part of the rhythm of our days.

Each morning, and on teaching days at lunch, we are served fresh, organic, farm-to-table meals with local produce, thoughtful juices, and seasonal dishes that nourish long studio days without weighing us down.

Accessibility

I care deeply about making my courses accessible, but Mexico is not always easy. San Miguel de Allende is hilly, and Casa Angelitos has stairs and uneven surfaces. If you have mobility concerns, please contact me before booking so we can honestly look together at whether this residency is a good fit for you.